"Everything. If he could not rid himself of his wife—and she is a match for the devil himself—, the mistress might be more readily set aside."
"Have you absolute knowledge of aught?" asked Luke, his voice tremulous with emotion.
"Nay, I but hinted."
"Such hints are worse than open speech. Let me know the worst. Did he kill her?" And Luke glared at the sexton as if he would have penetrated his secret soul.
But Peter was not easily fathomed. His cold, bright eye returned Luke's gaze steadfastly, as he answered, composedly:
"I have said all I know."
"But not all you think."
"Thoughts should not always find utterance, else we might often endanger our own safety, and that of others."
"An idle subterfuge—and, from you, worse than idle. I will have an answer, yea or nay. Was it poison—was it steel?"
"Enough—she died."