A little whiff of faint fragrance came
floating out from its crumpled lace.
"You recognize it?"
"Yes!"
"So much the better!" she declared. "Let me tell you this at once. I have
not come here to answer questions. I have come to ask them. Are you
content?"
"I am content--so long as you are here," I murmured.
"The man whom you protected last night--whose life you probably saved--on
your honor, was he a stranger to you?"
"On my honor he was," I answered gravely.
"You have never seen him before?"
"To my knowledge--no!"
"You have never spoken to him before?"
"Never!"
She drew a little sigh.
"Your defence of him then," she said, "was simply accidental?"
"Entirely!" I answered.
"Has he communicated with you since?"
"Not in any way," I assured her.
She drew a little away from me. Her eyes were still fixed eagerly upon my
face.
"Are you inclined to believe in me--to believe what I say?" she asked.
"Absolutely," I answered.
"Then listen to me now," she said. "That man, never mind his name, is one
of nature's criminals.
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