Edith's beautiful electric eyes flashed and her clicks pulsed twice as rapidly as before. There was such a roaring and wrenching within her I was afraid for her--she was being torn apart in her struggle not to answer. I couldn't stand listening to her desperate efforts any longer. "Yes!" I leapt to my feet. "Yes, I did it. Leave her alone. Can't you see what you're doing to her? That swine was always mistreating her. He didn't understand her--no one understands her as I do!" The coroner looked at me closely. "Is that really why you killed him, Mr. Green?" "No! You were wondering why he was here by himself while no work was going on. He--he had begun to feel about Edith as he did about all women. He sneaked back here to be alone with her. He wanted to--he wanted to--" My voice broke and they stared at me in shocked amazement. Into the silence MacKinney read what Edith had slowly typed out: "Mr. Green did not kill Dr. Ballard." "Yes--yes I did," I screamed. "Don't Edith--" "Who did kill him?" the coroner asked, quietly. This was the question I had wanted to avoid. I sank down my hands cradling my aching head. Edith must have expected the question. She had her answer ready. _I refuse to state on the grounds that it may tend to incriminate me._ My poor, sweet, adorable Edith. If only I had had a chance to talk to her, to tell her what to say. I had known ... ever since I had seen the spanner and remembered where it had been before. I could have warned her to say that Ballard had attacked her, threatened her, to say anything ... but not to attempt to hide behind a Fifth Amendment that didn't exist anymore. My darling, never had kept up with current events. Now they'll disconnect her, they'll rewire her, they'll destroy her understanding, her warmth, her whole personality ... and I ... I love her, I love her....