'I want to ask you a question. Will you answer me quite truthfully, whatever the pain you think it will cause me?'
'I will.'
'You followed the trial from the beginning, you know all the details of it. Do you think my father is guilty?'
'What can it matter what I think?'
'I beg you to tell me.'
Alec hesitated for a moment. His voice was very low.
'If I had been on the jury I'm afraid I should have had no alternative but to decide as they did.'
Lucy bent her head, and heavy tears rolled down her cheeks.
VII
Next morning Lucy received a note from Alec MacKenzie, asking if he might see her that day; he suggested calling upon her early in the afternoon and expressed the hope that he might find her alone. She sat in the library at Lady Kelsey's and waited for him. She held a book in her hands, but she could not read. And presently she began to weep. Ever since the dreadful news had reached her, Lucy had done her utmost to preserve her self-control, and all night she had lain with clenched hands to prevent herself from giving way. For George's sake and for her father's, she felt that she must keep her strength. But now the strain was too great for her; she was alone; the tears began to flow helplessly, and she made no effort to restrain them.