“Bob! Why must I say it again? I want you to tell me just what happened that night after you left the hall. They are saying—I have heard— Oh, I know it isn’t true! I want you to tell me it isn’t.”
“I can’t tell that until I know what you have heard.”
“I have heard—I heard it this morning—that you and Seymour were seen together down here somewhere on the lower road, hours after the hall was closed and locked. You were seen here together—some one saw you, I don’t know who. That is the story. Bob—”
“Wait a minute. It isn’t the whole story, is it?”
“No, it is not. Bob, they say—they say you and he were—disagreeing—quarreling—”
“Fighting, perhaps?”
“Bob! Why— Do you think it is a joke? Don’t you realize—”
“Hush, Esther! Certainly I realize. I realize quite as plainly as you can what else they will be saying soon—may be saying now, for all I know. What do you expect me to do about it?”
“Do! I want you to deny it all, of course. Speak out plainly and say it is all a lie.”
“Suppose it isn’t all a lie? As a matter of fact, most of it, so far, is true. Covell and I were together down on this road at two o’clock that morning. We did meet and we did quarrel.... There, there, Esther—”