Page:Watts Mumford--Whitewash.djvu/206

 "What of it? That's no reason for saying I ever knew him in Paris."

Mrs. Durham settled herself and compressed her lips. "Don't you see? She wants to nullify your story if it should get out. Well, I gave the ladies who 'thought I ought to know' a piece of my unvarnished mind for crediting such a thing—or listening to it, for that matter—but not till I had pumped them sufficiently to trace the information in the direction of your charming friend. Now, Victoria, dear, we must hunt this thing down; bring every one face to face with his neighbor who handed on the gossip. And when we have sifted everything down, we will take action."

"But," cried Victoria, bewildered for once, "I don't see any reason—there's no motive. People don't murder without a motive; why, then, should they kill a person's character without one?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Durham replied. "But I tell you, my dear, we will find out."

Victoria seized the poker and played havoc 196