The conclusions to be inevitably reached from the premise that Naomi was the woman in the taxicab were none too pleasant. In the first place there was the matter of morals involved. It had been pretty well established that the dead man had planned a trip to New York with someone: there was the fact that he had purchased a drawing room and two railroad tickets--only one of which later had been found in his pockets at midnight that night. Then there was the circumstance of Mrs. Lawrence packing her suit-case and taking it, or sending it, from the house during the day--and its reappearance a couple of days later. It also explained her willingness that Evelyn spend the night with Hazel Gresham. Knowing that she, Naomi, was going to leave her home before midnight, she had not wanted her youthful sister to spend the balance of the night alone--and so had sent her to the house of a friend. That much was clear-- "It's hell!" burst out Carroll. "You said it." "Suppose she _was_ the woman in the taxicab--?" "Yes--suppose she was: it doesn't prove that she killed Warren?" "No--but it proves something a good deal worse, Leverage. It proves that she was going to elope with him." "It may--we don't _know_!" "We don't _know_ anything. But there is a certain logic which is irrefutable--and, confound it! man--what are we going to do now?" Leverage refused to meet his friend's eyes. "We-e-ll, David--suppose you tell me what _you_ think we should do?" "We ought to--but it's rotten! Absolutely rotten!" "Trouble with you, David," said Leverage kindly--"is that you're too damned human!" "I can't help it. It isn't my fault. And if I was sure that Naomi Lawrence was the woman in that taxi, I'd arrest her immediately. But I'm not sure, Leverage--and neither are you. Let's admit that it's a ten to one bet--we're still not positive. And I wonder if you realize what her arrest would mean?" "What?" "We can't arrest a woman of her prominence socially without a reason--and a darned good reason. Therefore, when we arrest her we have to tell the public why we're doing it. And what do we tell 'em? That she was--or might have become--Warren's light-o'-love! That she was going to elope with him!" "And yet, David--all of that is probably true." "Probably--yes. But not positively. We haven't proved anything. And once we explode that social bomb--we've started something that she'll never live down. We've done more than that--we've played the devil with Evelyn's chance of happiness. That kid will be in a swell position when the scandal-mongers get hold of the gossip about her sister. Can't you hear 'em--babbling about it being in the blood?" "But she might prove that none of it is true." "That doesn't make a bit of difference. Gossip pays no attention to a refutation. Leave consideration for Mrs. Lawrence out of it altogether--and figure where Evelyn comes in on the backwash."