"Oh, yes, I have a vague recollection of a long walk through the dark--of a train--of you--of policemen. But everything is so confused that I can be sure of nothing."
"It seems to me incredible," he said at last, "that if you did not even know where to look for a pistol, you should have found it, to say nothing of having been able to use it, while you were being beaten into unconsciousness by that brute."
But Anita only shook her head hopelessly.
"It is extraordinary, and yet I must have done so. For it has been proved, has it not, that Arthur and I were absolutely alone?"
"Certainly not! How can we be sure that some one was not concealed in the room or did not climb in through the window or--why, there are a thousand possibilities which can never be proved!"
"Ah!" she exclaimed, her whole body trembling with eagerness. "I now remember that I had put all my jewels in a bag, and as that has disappeared, a burglar--" But as she scanned Cyril's face, she paused.
"You had the bag with you at the nursing home. The jewels are safe," he said very gently.
"Then," she cried, "it is useless trying to deceive ourselves any longer--I killed Arthur and must face the consequences."
"You shall not! I will not allow it!" he cried.
"But don't you see that I can't spend the rest of my life in hiding? Think what it would mean to live in daily, hourly dread of exposure? Why, death would be preferable to that."
"Oh, you would be acquitted. There is no doubt of that. That is not what I am afraid of. But the idea of you, Anita, in prison. Why, it is out of the question. A week of it would kill you."
"And if it did, what of it? What has life to offer me now?"
"Give me time. I will find some way of saving you. I will do anything--everything."
"There is nothing you can do," she said, laying her hand gently on his arm. "You have already risked too much. Oh, I can never thank you enough for all your goodness to me!"
"Don't--don't--I would gladly give my life for you!"
"I know it, Cousin Cyril," she murmured, with downcast eyes. A wave of colour swept for a moment over her face.
Cyril shivered. With a mighty effort he strove to regain his composure. Cousin Cyril! Yes, that was what he was to her--that was all he could ever be to her.