"Good Lord!" he groaned. "Don’t talk like the ingénue in a melodrama. Let me see why the Whitneys think so much of you. You must have _some_ intelligence—give me a sample of it." That settled it. "Take a seat," I said. "You make me nervous staring at me like the lion in the menagerie at the fat child." He sat down and I told him—the whole business, what she had said, what they had thought—everything. When I’d finished he rose up and, with his hands burrowed deep in his pockets, began pacing up and down the balcony. I didn’t give a peep, watching him cautious from under my eyelids. After a bit he said in a low voice: "Preposterous—crazy! She had no more to do with it than you have." "They think different." "I’ve gathered that. And Price had nothing to do with it either." It was all very well for him to stand by her, but to sweep Price off the map! I couldn’t sit still and let him rave on. "Price hadn’t? Take another guess. Price is the mainspring of it." "I’ll leave guessing to you—it’s your business, and you appear to do it very well." "Say, drop me altogether. I’m only a paid servant. But you’ll have to admit that Mr. Whitney and his son count pretty big in their line." "Very big, Miss Rogers. But they’ve made a mistake this time—or possibly been misled. The Janneys have never been fair to Price. They’re prejudiced and they’ve branded the prejudice on. He isn’t an angel, neither is he a rascal. He didn’t take his child, he never thought of it, he couldn’t do it." "Then who did?" "That’s what I want to find out." "Jerusalem!" I said, sitting up, feeling like the peaceful scene around me was suddenly dark and strange. "You don’t think she’s _really_ been kidnaped?" "I can’t think anything else." He stopped in front of me, looking at me hard and stern. "I’d like to find another solution but I’m unable to." "But, gee-whizz!" I stared at him, all worried and mixed. "You can’t get away from the facts. They’re all there—there’s hardly a break." "I don’t admit that. This man and woman have got characters and records that haven’t been considered—but even if you had a hole-proof case against them I wouldn’t believe it." "Oh, pshaw!" I said, simmering down, "you just believe what you want to. I’ve seen people like that before." "I daresay you have, I’m not a unique specimen in the human family. But I’ll tell you what I am just at this juncture—the only one among you that’s right." He drew back and gave a vengeful wag of his head at me. "You’ve all gone off at half-cock—doing your best to ruin a man who’s harmless and a girl who’s—who’s—" he stopped, and wheeled away from me. "Tch—it makes me sick! Hate and anger and jealousy—that’s what’s at the bottom of it. I can’t talk about it any longer—it’s too beastly. Good-night!"