"It was odd that she
should call you up so soon--and in the storm--wasn't it? She expected
to find you at my office. I could fairly hear the lightning hissing
along the wires. She must have been under some unusual impulse."
"Perhaps."
McDowell was silent for a space, looking steadily at Keith, as if
measuring him up to something.
"I don't mind telling you that I am very deeply interested in Miss
Kirkstone," he said. "You didn't see her when the Judge was killed. She
was away at school, and you were on John Keith's trail when she
returned. I have never been much of a woman's man, Conniston, but I
tell you frankly that up until six or eight months ago Miriam was one
of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen. I would give a good deal
to know the exact hour and date when the change in her began. I might
be able to trace some event to that date. It was six months ago that
she began to take an interest in the fate of John Keith. Since then the
change in her has alarmed me, Conniston. I don't understand. She has
betrayed nothing. But I have seen her dying by inches under my eyes.
She is only a pale and drooping flower compared with what she was. I am
positive it is not a sickness--unless it is mental.
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