“Yet he insists that he was touched or struck.”
“Yes.”
“With no one there to touch or strike him.”
Mr. Ashley was silent.
“Let us step out and take a view of the place,” I suggested. “I should prefer doing this to questioning the young man in his present state of mind.” Then, as we turned to put on our coats, I asked with suitable precautions: “Do you suppose that he has the same secret suspicions as ourselves, and that it is to hide these he insists upon the jewel’s having been taken away from him at a point the ladies are known not to have approached?”
Young Ashley looked more startled than pleased.
“Nothing has been said to him of what Miss Peters saw Miss Glover do. I could not bring myself to mention it. I have not even allowed myself to believe——”
Here a fierce gust, blowing i
