At sight of the shiver and her white face he remembered her friendly relations with Van Bleit, and hesitated to give free expression to his thoughts. "Oh! I don't know," he said... "You see, we know so little. The only thing that is positive is that he killed the man... He admits it. But men have done that before, you know, and haven't swung for it. We won't look on the worst side until we've got to." She realised that his desire was to spare her feelings, and a soft blush mantled her cheeks at the knowledge of what he was thinking. "I'm not Kate," she said quietly. "I wish you wouldn't hold out hopes you don't in the least entertain. You are afraid the case will go against him... Why don't you say so frankly?" "Because," he answered jerkily, "I've got no grounds for supposing anything of the sort. But I've been interviewing men this morning whose business it is to see the more serious side, and it doesn't tend to reassure one. Don't let that worry you, though, Mrs Lawless; we are going to do the best we can for him." Again the swift rush of embarrassed colour warmed her face. The tell-tale crimson strengthened his misapprehension. He fell to wondering what women saw in Van Bleit that won their liking. His wife's partiality for her cousin was the greatest unsolved puzzle of his life. "We'll do our best," he repeated, wishful to allay her anxiety. "If it wasn't for Grey... It'll be rather like two dogs worrying over a bone. It will be interesting to see who wins. The odds are against us... But we'll do our best." That phrase rang in Zoe Lawless' ears like a refrain as she drove on... "We'll do our best." ... So Theodore Smythe, as well as his wife, imagined that Karl Van Bleit's danger mattered to her. He had sought to hearten her with encouraging words; the very pressure of his hand when he bade her good-bye had conveyed a silent kindly sympathy, and his smile was meant to be reassuring. Apart from the shock the news had occasioned her, Van Bleit's danger concerned her no more than the danger of the man in the street. Yet she by her actions had led these people to the inference they had drawn.