“Yes.”
“Perhaps you could judge how long he meant to be absent from the preparation he made?”
“I've never looked to see. I couldn't!”
Atherton changed the line of his inquiry. “Does any one else know of this?”
“No,” said Marcia, quickly, “I told Mrs. Halleck and all of them that he was in New York, and I said that I had heard from him. I came to you because you were a lawyer, and you would not tell what I told you.”
“Yes,” said Atherton.
“I want it kept a secret. Oh, do you think he's dead?” she implored.
“No,” returned Atherton, gravely, “I don't think he's dead.”
“Sometimes it seems to me I could bear it better if I knew he was dead. If he isn't dead, he's out of his mind! He's out of his mind, don't you think, and he's wandered off somewhere?”
She besought him so pitifully to agree with her, bending forward and trying to read the thoughts in his face, that he could not help saying, “Perhaps.”