“It is what I am not certain of,” he said frankly. “It is the murder that has revealed this--misfortune. I can find no motive that can account for her connection with the affair.” “I am of the opinion she had nothing to do with it,” she said, quite positively. “If all this is true, she would naturally have no love for the child of her mistake; but you surely cannot think on that account that she was guilty of murder--the cruelest murder one could imagine under the circumstances! Certainly, if there was anything to tempt to murder, anything that would have advantaged her, it passed long ago.” “I have thought of that,” he said, “but is it not possible that something may have occurred recently that alarmed her--something that made her feel it necessary to go to extremes to which, naturally, she would be unwilling to resort, excepting under the direst necessity?” “I do not think,” she said, lifting her head with some imperiousness, “that such a woman is likely to be alarmed. She would have lived that down long since. More than that, she would have brains enough to see that a crime, more than all else, would endanger her secret. This woman could not have been brainless.” “Far from it,” he assured her. “I am inclined to rate her as the ablest woman I have ever met.” She bowed as recognising a personal compliment. “You have met her, then?” “Yes,” he said. “I have met her.” “Would you mind telling me the impression she made on you--that is, as regards her possible connection with this crime? My curiosity is roused.” “I think she is now incapable of it,” he said. “That she might not have been at one time, I am less certain; but if there was such a time, it has passed. Success had mollified resentment and increased the feeling of safety. Still, if she believed herself in danger, I do not think she would hesitate at any extreme. It would, however, take much to arouse a conviction of danger.” “I am inclined to think your judgment sound,” she said. “What can you tell me of the man who now shares with her the knowledge of the facts in the case?” “That he would not assert such knowledge unless he possessed every detail and was absolutely able to identify every person connected with the affair and verify every date and place. You may take his assertion that he knows, as absolute evidence of this. His only object in searching this matter out was the unravelling of the mystery of a crime. If he thought for one instant that the revelation of the facts would aid in unravelling that crime, he would not hesitate at the revelation. Convinced that it would not aid, the secret is as safe with him as if it did not exist. At present the secret, as far as he is concerned, does not exist.”