Then Furneaux's cold voice was heard again.
"I dare say, now, it seems to you a suspicious thing that I should come to this grave at all."
"Why should it, Furneaux?" asked his chief bluntly.
"Yes, why?" said Furneaux. "I once knew her. I told you from the first that I knew her."
"I remember: you did."
"You asked no questions as to how I came to know her, or how long, or under what circumstances. Why did you not ask? Such questions occur among friends: and I—might have told you. But you did not ask."
"Tell me now."
"Winter, I'd see you hanged first!"
The words came in a sharp rasp—his first sign of anger.
"Hanged?" repeated Winter, flushing. "You'll see me hanged? I usually see the hanging, Furneaux!"