“I—I know! Why? Why do you say that?”
“Because you know the truth—you know why they so suddenly disappeared.”
“I know the truth!” he repeated. “Indeed I do not. You are speaking in enigmas, just as you yourself are an enigma, Miss Lorena.”
Her lips relaxed into a smile of incredulity.
“Why, Mr Rolfe, do you make a pretence of ignorance, when you are fully aware of the whole of the combination of circumstances which led Doctor Petrovitch and his daughter to escape from London?”
“But, my dear girl!” he cried; “you entirely misjudge me. I am in complete ignorance.”
“And yet you were present at Cromwell Road on the night in question!” she said slowly, fixing her eyes calmly upon him.
“Who are you, Miss Lorena, that you should make these direct allegations against me?” he cried, staring at her.
“I am your friend, Mr Rolfe, if you will allow me to act as such.”
“My friend!” he cried. “But you are alleging that I have secret knowledge of the Doctor’s disappearance—that I make a pretence of ignorance. If I were in possession of the facts, is it feasible that I should be so anxious of the welfare of Maud?”