Mrs. Parsons held out her hands and Craige helped her slowly to her feet. “So Ted really has cut out Leigh Wallace in Kitty’s affections,” she remarked.
Craige frowned. “It was nothing more than a flirtation between Kitty and Wallace,” he declared. “Her whole heart is centered on Ted.”
“You speak with positiveness—” Mrs. Parsons’ laugh held a touch of malice. “Remember, women are fickle—and Leigh very attractive.”
“I fail to understand the fascination he apparently has for women.” Craige’s tone was stiff. A mischievous smile touched Mrs. Parsons’ lips and her eyes danced.
“Leigh was very, very smitten with Kitty,” she asserted, as she paused before the long gilt mirror and adjusted her lorgnette chain. “Do you suppose it could have been Leigh who tried to kill Ted last night?”
Craige stood just behind her and looking in the mirror she saw his face reflected over her shoulder. His expression of surprise gave place to doubt—to wonder—
“By Jove!” he exclaimed. “No, it can’t be, Cecelia. Leigh, whatever his faults, is the type of man who fights in the open.”
“Jealousy changes a man’s nature sometimes,” she murmured. “Leigh has not been himself since his return from France.”
“You knew him before, then?”
Mrs. Parsons nodded. “Very slightly. It was Nina Potter who commented upon the change in him; he was an old sweetheart of hers.”