“Now! Oh, my goodness, I don’t know anything about him now,” muttered Afy. “I have not heard of him or seen him for a long while. I think I heard something about his going to India with his regiment.”
“What regiment is he in?”
“I’m sure I don’t know about that,” said Afy. “Is not one regiment the same as another; they are all in the army, aren’t they, sir?”
“Afy, I must find this Captain Thorn. Do you know anything of his family?”
Afy shook her head. “I don’t think he had any. I never heard him mention as much as a brother or a sister.”
“And you persist in saying his name was Thorn?”
“I persist in saying it because it was his name. I am positive it was his name.”
“Afy, shall I tell you why I want to find him; I believe it was he who murdered your father, not Richard Hare.”
Afy’s mouth and eyes gradually opened, and her face turned hot and cold alternately. Then passion mastered her, and she burst forth.
“It’s a lie! I beg your pardon, sir, but whoever told you that, told you a lie. Thorn had no more to do with it than I had; I’ll swear it.”