Page:More lives than one.djvu/149



“Did she—did she ever borrow money from you?”

“All the time—practically.”

“Pay it back?”

“Not always—sometimes.”

“And—Rosamond, you’ve no idea how hard it is for me to say this—but I must—if you didn’t lend it—did she ever threaten”

Mrs. Sayre gave a broken little laugh.

“Of course she did, Andrew. She used to threaten all of us. You see, Maddy played in horrible luck, and she always wanted to recoup. But, good gracious, man, don’t take it so to heart! That was nothing, that she should say she’d tell our little secrets if we didn’t lend her a hundred or two. Why so upset over it?”

“But—but, Rosamond, it isn’t so trifling a matter as you say. There’s—there’s a pretty bad name goes with that sort of thing.”

“Oh, well, don’t use it in connection with Maddy. Forget it, Drew, nobody is going to hold it up against her. Especially now—the poor girl is gone. Have you any—any idea”

“Who killed her? No, not the slightest. And that’s another thing, Rose. Claudine says you were over at the house that night, and up in Maddy’s room while she dressed. Did she tell you where she was going?”

“I was only there for a minute—and—well, I may as well tell you, she called me over to ask me for some money.”

“She did! And you let her have it?”

“Oh, yes, that is, I agreed to take it to Emmy Gardner’s for her. I did so—but the poor girl never came to get it.”

Barham mused. “What did you think that night, when she failed to come?”

“I—oh, I didn’t think much about it. Maddy always did as she liked. Harrison went with me, and we spoke of