“Yes, Gabrielle, dear, Mr. Garfield is certainly your friend. I know that,” declared her mother kindly. “Doctor Moroni must have been mistaken. Why should he have warned you against meeting Mr. Garfield?”
I was silent for a moment, then I said:
“Of course, Mrs. Tennison, you have no previous knowledge of me. You are taking me entirely at my own estimation.”
“When I meet a young man who is open and frank as you are, I trust him,” she said quietly. “You know that woman’s intuition seldom errs.”
I laughed.
“Well,” I answered. “I am striving to solve the mystery of what occurred on the night of November the seventh—of what occurred to your daughter, as well as to myself.”
Mrs. Tennison endeavoured to obtain from me a description of my adventure, but I managed to evade her questions.
“I wonder why Doctor Moroni warned Gabrielle against you?” she remarked presently. “It is a mystery.”
“Yes, Mrs. Tennison, it is all a mystery—a complete mystery to me why Doctor Moroni, of all men, should take an interest in your daughter. He is certainly not a man to be trusted, and I, in turn, warn you against him.”
“Why? He has been so good to Gabrielle.”