Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/247

 The soldier-face stiffened. "What do you know?" Sir Ian asked.

"We were together in the Tower," she answered. "We heard."

"Good God!" the words seemed to burst from him.

"Now you can guess what I think of you, when you say that you don't know if Ian is innocent."

"You swear to me that you were there together—Barr and you?" The man caught her hands, and held them, looking her in the eyes, though she struggled to free herself.

"I swear it to you. It depends on you, whether I swear it to others, or keep the silence I promised."

"If this is true, you perjured yourself at the inquest."

"Yes. Because Ian and I agreed to know nothing."

"Good Heavens! If Ian Barr was there with you, Nora, you don't know the difference it makes."

"What do you mean by the 'difference'?"

"I can't tell you what I mean. But you will know sooner or later. As you hope to save your soul—no, as you hope to save your lover's life, answer me this: Was he with you in the Tower until after the shots were fired?"

"As I hope to save Ian's life, he was with me in the Tower till after the shots were fired."

"Where were you both?"

"In the first floor room, first above—the other.