“No,” she said, “I do not think that.”
“Nevertheless, it may be so. The woman is some one who has known all about Jimmy, what he has been and what he is now. She did not marry him, thinking he was Ledger Dinwiddie; she married him knowing who he was, and helped him to carry out the deception—or, if the plot arose after they were married, it is all the more proof that she is of his own kind; a crook like he is.”
“Oh, yes, I agree to that. But—she might have known him after he went to the bad, and I should assume that it is more likely that she did.”
“Nevertheless, tell me something about that old life.”
“No, Mr. Carter; please don’t ask me. At the risk of offending you I must refuse. I am not the person I was then. That girl is dead; I will not bring her to life. I am Nan Nightingale now, and no other. Even if Jimmy should escape his just deserts, because of my reticence, I would not speak.”
“Very well. Will you do another thing?”
“What is that?”
“Will you go with me and help to run Jimmy down?”
“Yes. Anywhere.”
“And for the sake of what I want to accomplish, will you become one of my assistants for a time?”