Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/171

 "Why, of course they will," Terry assured her. "They would have no right to keep you, even if they wanted to."

"You're sure? You know—you must know—they didn't believe what I said at the inquest."

"Granting even that that were so, there's no suspicion against you which gives the police a right to detain you."

"I hoped not. But I haven't dared to ask anybody till now, or mention the subject at all, except to you. It's such a comfort to speak! Still—supposing they should have me watched—even in France. Would they do that?"

"I don't think so," said Terry. "You mean—on account of"

"On account of Ian," Nora answered frankly. "My Ian. They want to find him, you know, as—as a witness, because they believe I lied, and perhaps bribed people who saw him, to say they might have been mistaken. That's why they adjourned the inquest again, I'm sure. They think I met him in the woods—that day, and that I'm trying to shield him."

"Possibly some people do think something of the sort," Terry admitted. She did not ask, or even wish to ask, whether the theory were justified or no.

Yes. And so it came into my head that they might hope to find him through me, if I were watched. They might fancy that—we'd try to meet."