"Splendid! We will agree that I am a deceiver!"
"If it gives you pleasure! You are welcome to all the joy you can get out of it!"
"Please don't be bitter! Let us play fair, and not stoop to abuse."
"I should think you would feel contrite enough after that ugly business of this afternoon. You didn't appear to be even annoyed by that Italian's effort to smash the launch."
She was silent for an instant; I heard her breath come and go quickly; then she responded with what seemed a forced lightness:
"You really think that was inspired by—" she suddenly appeared at a loss.
"By Henry Holbrook, as you know well enough. And if Miss Pat should be murdered through his enmity, don't you see that your position in the matter would be difficult to explain? Murder, my dear young woman, is not looked upon complacently, even in this remote corner of the world!"
"You seem given to the use of strong language, Mr. Donovan. Let us drop the calling of names and consider just where you put me."
"I don't put you at all; you have taken your own stand. But I will say that I was surprised, not to say pained, to find that you played the eavesdropper the very hour you came to Annandale."
A moment's silence; the water murmured in the reeds below; an owl hooted in the Glenarm wood; a restless bird chirped from its perch in a maple overhead.