“I did not know that you had a twin sister,” said Nick.
“Yes, I had,” said Mrs. Constant, sadly. “She came to live with me a week ago. She was so happy to come, and this is the end. She died for me.”
“Prior to her coming to live with you,” asked Nick, “where did she live?”
“In Philadelphia.”
“Had she spent much time in New York with you?”
“Not much time,” replied Mrs. Constant. “Only for short visits at long intervals.”
“Did she have many acquaintances in this city?”
Mrs. Constant, as in a flash, saw the end toward which Nick’s questions were tending, and said, hurriedly and impatiently:
“Waste no time on that, Mr. Carter. Ethel had no acquaintances in New York, except a very few that she had made within the past week. She was killed because the one who killed her thought it was I who was in the carriage.”
“I know that you think so,” said Nick. “But I was trying to explore the possibility of the other view.”