When, stopping, she stood before me, with shining eyes; her lips parted with a smile, so as to show the small white teeth within, I was at a loss how to enter on the subject of my errand. So, as usual, I blundered.
“Unfortunately, men are mostly fools, and blind.”
There my tongue stuck fast. She looked at me a little anxiously.
“How do you mean?”
“There are those of them who cannot see the noses on each other’s faces.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s a fact. Some of them are idiots enough to believe that—that you knew something about that scoundrel’s death.”
“I see.” Her face lightened as if she began to perceive my drift. “You mean that they suspect me of having murdered him. That’s no news.”
“But I fear they go beyond suspicion.”
“Beyond suspicion? Do you mean that they can prove it?”