“What? Have we got to begin all over again?” growled Leonard impatiently.
The widow cried in a voice of terror: “No, no! good gentleman! I beg you!”
The words ended in a cry of pain.
“Oh, the brute!... What is he doing to me?... Oh! my poor hand!”
“Speak, then, curse you!”
“Yes, yes.... I will!... I will!”
But she broke off short; her voice gave out. She was at the end of her strength. Leonard, however, went on pressing her and Ralph caught some words painfully uttered: “Yes ... we’re to meet on Tuesday ... at the old lighthouse.... But, no!... I have no right!... I would rather die!... You can do what you like!... I’d rather die!”
She was silent.
Leonard growled: “What’s the matter with the pig-headed old beast now? She’s not dead I hope. Oh, you old donkey, you shall speak! I’ll give you ten minutes and then I’ll make an end of it.”
A door was opened and then shut. Doubtless he was going to inform Josephine of the admissions he had so far obtained and to get instructions from her as to the course the rest of the questioning was to take. Ralph pulled his head out of the chimney and saw him go to her and stand over her. He talked to her with excited gestures; she listened to him.