Unfortunately Riever wanted to talk. It wore Pen out to talk to him because she couldn't be frank. Real frankness was unknown to Riever, though he could be amusing. His eyes never lost their watchfulness, nor his lips their superficial smile. This morning he was not amusing. For several days Pen had been aware that his temper was suffering as a result of the continued non-success of his efforts to run down Counsell. To Pen's secret dismay he commenced to talk about it now, watching her keenly meanwhile.
"What do you think of the situation at the Point?" he asked.
"Counsell appears to have given us the slip."
Pen said to herself: "I must be bold. Half measures will never deceive him." She said to him calmly: "I hope he has."
Riever bit his lip. "I wish I knew what it was about murder that appeals to women's imaginations," he sneered.
"About murder, nothing," said Pen coolly. "Not to this woman. But no true woman could help sympathizing with a man hunted by a pack."
Pen was not to be betrayed into declaring her belief in Don's innocence. "Even if he was guilty," she said.
"Well, I fancy a woman's idea of justice differs from a man's. To kill for killing gets us nowhere."
"I thought you thought him innocent," said Riever subtly.
"How can one tell?" said Pen. "The newspapers are so contradictory."
"I haven't noticed it," said Riever. "If there's any evidence in his favor it hasn't been brought to my attention."
Pen seeing that she had made a slip, adroitly shifted to new ground. "That's just it," she said. "The newspapers are so clearly prejudiced, you can't help but feel there is another side to the story."
"How do you suppose he made his getaway?" asked Riever, still watching her. "Every yard of the shore has been searched, every native questioned."
"Perhaps he paddled across the Bay," said Pen. "There are convenient railways over on the Eastern shore."
"But we had our men there next day," said Riever. "And the canoe was not found. No, somebody must be hiding him."
"But there's the reward I offered," said Riever, "You'd think that would be tempting."
"Oh, money isn't everything to everybody," said Pen.
"You think maybe some maiden's fancy has been caught by his good looks?" he sneered.