"Did I understand you to say that this Rose Mitchel is your daughter?"
"I don't know what you understood, but I did not say so. I spoke of her just as you did, 'Rose Mitchel, who passed as my daughter.'"
"Well, then, is she your daughter?"
"I decline to answer."
"Why do you do so?"
"I must decline to reply to that also."
"Do you not see, Mr. Mitchel, you are simply making your actions more and more suspicious?"
"My dear Mr. Barnes, I do not care a straw how much suspicion I arouse, so long as I am not confronted by any proof. Whenever you think you have any proof against me, come to me and I will endeavor to refute it."
"Very well. You have asked me to discover who stole Miss Remsen's ruby. I have already done so."