"Not even then did they let me see him," she cried. "No, ma'am, not even then. It was cruel--cruel."
"Cruel indeed. I did not think Aaron could have been so unkind to you. He had one of the keys of the green doors, and could have let you through at any time."
Dorothy sighed, and let fall her apron. All this was beginning to frighten her. Miss Winter advanced and stood in front of her.
"There was nothing going on behind those green baize doors, was there, Dorothy?" she asked in expressive tones, her eyes gazing straight into the woman's; "nothing that they wanted to keep from you and from everyone?"
Dorothy flung up her arms with a sudden gesture of dismay.
"Oh, mistress, ask me no more for heaven's sake!" she cried. "I know nothing; I have nothing to tell."
"Nothing?" repeated Miss Winter.
"No, ma'am, nothing."
And the poor shaking woman looked so distressed as she crept to the door, that Miss Winter let her escape.
"Ella," cried her lover quietly, rising from behind his newspaper, "it is from that woman we must get the clue. She knows more than she dares to tell. I am right; it is this trouble that is preying upon her mind."