"Yes."
"It is tainted, tainted, and my mother's blood is on it—I will not touch it. I will not have it. I have taken wages in Lamoral because Jamie assured me the money was your own—not one penny of it from that fund."
"Yes, it is my own, and I never made a better investment with so few dollars. But, Marcia—"
He hesitated; his face looked tense; his voice sounded as if strained to breaking. The knife was hurting him almost as much as it hurt me. I looked at him.
"Don't look at me so; I can't do my duty if you do."
"I don't want you to do your duty so far as I am concerned. I want you to show your friendship for me, by not telling me anything that you may know."
"But, Marcia, it is time—"
"But not now—oh, not now! You don't know what I have borne—I can bear no more—" I spoke brokenly.
"My dear girl, what can you tell me that I do not know, I who was with your mother in her last hour—"
I broke down then, sobbing, trying to explain but only half coherently: