“Humph! Now tell me: What effect did the sudden and tragic death of Orizaba seem to have upon Isabel?”
“None at all that I could notice. I thought she was paler than usual, but we were all of us that. I do not think she acted any differently from the others.”
“You have known Miss Mercedes so long and so well that you would notice anything which seemed to affect her, at once, would you not?”
“Surely.”
“You know, of course, that Mr. Reginald did not like Orizaba?”
“Certainly. We all knew that. He did not disguise the fact.”
“How did Miss Mercedes feel toward him?”
“I think she dreaded him. If she were anybody else, I should have said that she feared him—and yet, she was very gracious to him.”
“Do you think by any possibility that she was in love with him, or that she had ever been in love with him?”