Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/108

 "She might have, but I don't think it likely, for though it used to slide off her lap sometimes, in the house, or she would leave it on a table, she always missed it instantly; and when she was walking, it hung from her wrist by its chain. It wasn't very valuable, I think; not worth more than twenty or thirty pounds, but she was particularly attached to it, for some reason."

"Had you ever seen the inside of this case, or vanity box?"

"Never."

"Could papers have been kept inside?"

"Only very small ones, if any."

"Could it have been possible that Lady Hereward had a reason other than the one she gave you, for wanting to be left alone near the Tower ?"

"Other than the one she gave me?" Sir Ian repeated this question with a very slight yet peculiar emphasis, as if he wished to mark it in some way, in his mind. "No, I do not think so."

"She could not have expected to meet any one?"

"I feel sure she did not."

"Is there any one who, to your knowledge, had a grudge against her?"

For the third time when giving an answer, Sir Ian paused. His eyes were raised, and introspective, with an expression of distress, as if he saw some ugly image in his mind. "No," he said, at last.