Again silence, and Daisie felt as if the last fold of the serpent were wound around her, crushing her to death.
She cried desperately:
“Dallas did not do it—never, never!”
“I saw him with my own eyes,” Mrs. Fleming returned, with cold malice, and waited for the answer.
Meanwhile, Daisie asked herself, in anguish, if she could bind herself by such a terrible promise—to give up her lover, whom she believed innocent; her lover, whom she loved with the passion of her life—and bind herself to Royall Sherwood for the time that he should live.
“And who knows but that he may recover? This woman may be deceiving me to gain her point,” whispered her heart; and she remained silent so long that Mrs. Fleming exclaimed impatiently:
“Well, what do you say? What will you do?”
Daisie’s beautiful violet eyes, now dark with emotion, brimmed with tears as she cried piteously:
“Oh, give me a little time to decide—until to-morrow!”
“You wish to warn Dallas Bain that his crime is known, that he may escape!” sharply.