"There, there, cherie, you shall not more distress yourself. It is of a hardness too great for the poor mind to bear," put in Mrs. Armroyd herself at this, bending over the sofa as she spoke and softly smoothing the girl's hair. "It is better she should be at peace for a little, is it not, monsieur?"
"Very much better, madame," replied Cleek, noting how softly her hand fell, and how gracefully it moved over the soft hair and across the white forehead. "No doubt the major part of what still remains to be told, you in the goodness of your heart, will supply----"
"Of a certainty, monsieur, of a certainty."
"--But for the present," continued Cleek, finishing the interrupted sentence, "there still remains a question or two which must be asked, and which only Miss Renfrew herself can answer. As those are of a private and purely personal nature, madame, would it be asking too much----" He gave his shoulders an eloquent Frenchified shrug, looked up at her after the manner of her own countrymen, and let the rest of the sentence go by default.
"Madame" looked at him and gave her little hands an airy and a graceful flirt.
"Of a certainty, monsieur," she said, with charming grace. "_Cela m'est egal_," and walked away with a step remarkably light and remarkably graceful for one of such weight and generous dimensions.
"Miss Renfrew," said Cleek, sinking his voice and looking her straight in the eyes, as soon as Mrs. Armroyd had left them, "Miss Renfrew, tell me something please: Have you any suspicion regarding the identity or the purpose of the person who murdered your uncle?"
"Not in the slightest, Mr. Headland. Of course, in the beginning, my thoughts flew at once to Sir Ralph Droger, but I now see how absurd it is to think that such as he----"
"I am not even hinting at Sir Ralph Droger," interposed Cleek. "Two other people in the world have a 'motive' quite as strong as any that might be assigned to him. You, of course, feel every confidence in the honour and integrity of Mr. Charles Drummond?"
"Gently, gently, please! I merely wished to know if in your heart you had any secret doubt; and your flaring up like that has answered me. You see, one has to remember that the late Mr. Nosworth is said to have made a will in your favour. The statement is correct, is it not?"