"Yes—the whole thing began to look that way. Her not being at the rendezvous in Maple Lane and then phoning me to meet her at a place, which, when I came to think of it, it was nearly impossible for her to reach in that space of time. It seemed the only reasonable explanation—and it was the sort of thing she might do. When I got the idea in my head it grew and," he looked down on the floor, his voice dropping low as if it was hard for him to speak, "I got blazing mad." For a moment it seemed like he couldn’t go on. In that moment I thought of how he must be feeling, remembering his rage against her while all the time she was lying cold and dead by the road. "I was too angry to go home," he went on, "and not thinking much what I did, I let the car out and went up and down—I don’t know how far—I don’t remember—miles and miles." "According to Mr. Casey it was half-past four when you came back to the garage." "I daresay; I didn’t notice the time." "You were from 9:30 to 4:30 on the road?" "Yes." "You spent those seven hours going up and down the turnpike and the intersecting roads?" "Yes, but at first I waited—for half hours at a time in different places." He looked straight at the Coroner as he said that, a deep steady look, more quiet and intent than he’d done since he started. I think it would have seemed to most people as if he was telling the absolute truth and wanted to impress it. But when a girl feels about a man as I did about him, she can see below the surface, and there was something about the expression of his face, about the tone of his voice, that made me think for the first time he was holding something back. Then he went on and told about going home and falling asleep on the sofa, and about the doctor and Mills coming. "When I saw the Doctor my first thought was that I must keep quiet till I found out what had happened. When he asked me where his daughter was I was startled as I realized she wasn’t at home. But, even then, I hadn’t any idea of serious trouble and I was determined to hold my tongue till I knew more than I did. "The ring of the telephone gave me a shock. I had been expecting to get a call from her and instinctively I gave a jump for it. By that time I was sure she’d got into some silly scrape and I wasn’t going to have her stepfather finding out and starting another quarrel. They," he nodded his head at the Doctor and Mills, "caught on at once and made a rush for me. "After that——" he lifted his hands and let them drop on his knees—"it was just as they’ve said. I was paralyzed. I don’t know what I said. I only felt she’d been in danger and called on me and I’d failed her. I think for a few moments I was crazy."