The girl was impressed with the gravity of his manner. She felt uneasy too. She felt how impossible it would be to hide anything from this man, who, quiet yet kindly, could exercise so masterful an influence over her. And there was a good deal just now she would have liked to keep from him. While they were talking she drew the sleeves of her dress down over her bruised wrists. Tresler saw the action and called her attention to the blackened flesh she was endeavoring to hide.
“Another accident?” he asked. And Diane kept silence. “Two accidents, and—tears,” he went on, in so gentle a tone that fresh tears slowly welled up into her eyes. “That is quite unlike you, Miss—Diane. One moment. Let me look.” He reached out to take her hands, but she drew away from him. He shrugged his shoulders. “I wonder if it were an accident?” he said, his keen eyes searching her face. “It would be strange to bruise both wrists by—accident.”
The girl held silent for a while. It was evident that a struggle was going on in her mind. Tresler watched. He saw the indecision. He knew how sorely he was pressing his advantage. Yet he must do it, if he would carry out his purpose. He felt that he was acting the brute, but it was the only way. Every barrier must be swept aside. At last she threw her head back with an impatient movement, and a slight flush of anger tinged her cheeks.
“And what if it were no accident?”
“The bruises or the lamp?”
“Both.”
“Then”—and Tresler’s tone was keenly incisive—“it is the work of some cruelly disposed person. You would not wilfully bruise yourself, Diane,” he moved nearer to her, and his voice softened wonderfully; “is there any real reason why you cannot trust me with the truth? May I not share something of your troubles? See, I will save you the pain of the telling. If I am right, do not answer me, and I shall understand. Your father has been here, and it was his doing—these things.”
The anger had passed out of the girl’s face, and her eyes, troubled enough but yielding, looked up into his.
“But how do you——?”