"Well, we talked it over, and she thought just as I did, that it might be better that way. I didn't have any too much money at the time. I thought he might be willing to help her for less if she went by herself than if we both went together."
("I'll be damned if he isn't stealing most of my thunder," thought Mason to himself at this point. "He's forestalling most of the things I intended to riddle him with." And he sat up worried. Burleigh and Redmond and Earl Newcomb—all now saw clearly what Jephson was attempting to do.)
"I see. And it wasn't by any chance because you were afraid that your uncle or Miss X might hear of it?"
"Oh, yes, I ... that is, we both thought of that and talked of it. She understood how things were with me down there."
"But not about Miss X?"
"No, not about Miss X."
"And why not?"
"Well, because I didn't think I could very well tell her just then. It would have made her feel too bad. I wanted to wait until she was all right again."
"And then tell her and leave her. Is that what you mean?"
"Well, yes, if I still couldn't care for her any more—yes, sir."