“What’s this, Fanchon?” he asked quickly. “You’re not going to fail me?”
She shook her head.
“I couldn’t stay here! You can tell William that he can come home. I’m going over to a boarding house on the turnpike. I found it once——”
She blushed suddenly and pitifully, and Daniel knew she referred to her ride. He drew a breath of relief.
“I’m sorry,” he began, half ashamed that she felt driven from the house, and painfully remembering William.
She caught his sleeve, her hand shaking.
“Daniel, tell me—the indictment?”
“Murder in the second degree.”
She reeled back, clutching at the trunk, her face deathly and her fawn-like eyes fixed on his.
“What—what’s the penalty?”