He tried to reason with her.
“It will, perhaps, serve to clear up a mystery that deepens each moment if you place your trust in me,” he said. “Tell me fully and openly any cause you may have for fearing that your brother may be implicated in this terrible business. I ask you to adopt this course in all faith. I have seen your brother under most trying circumstances; I have been with him at an hour when it would be impossible for him to conceal his burden if the weight of Lady Dyke’s death lay upon him. Yet I think him innocent. I think that chance has contributed to gather evidence against him. If I can learn even a portion of the truth it will enable me to quickly dispel the barrier of uncertainty that now hinders progress.”
“What is it you want to know?”
Mrs. Hillmer’s voice was hollow and broken. The barrister was shocked at the effect of his revelation, but he was forced to go on with the disagreeable task he had undertaken.
“Do you mean,” he asked, “that you will answer my questions?”
“So far as I can.”
“Would it not be better to tell me in your own words what you have to say?”
Mrs. Hillmer looked up, and the agony in her face filled him with keen pity.
“Oh, Heaven help me to do what is right!” she cried.