"YOU! OF ALL MEN!"
"No," I admitted, "I was not aware who Aline Cloud was, nor did I know
that you were acquainted with her."
She started. She had unwittingly betrayed herself.
"I--acquainted with her!" she cried in a voice of indignation. "You are
mistaken."
"But you know her by repute," I said. "Tell me the truth about her."
She laughed, a light, nervous laugh, her eyes still fixed upon the
water.
"You love her!" she exclaimed. "It is useless for me to say anything."
"No, no, Muriel," I cried. "I do not love her. How could I love her
when I know nothing whatsoever of her? Why, I only saw her twice."
"But you were with her a sufficient length of time to declare your
love."
How could she know? I wondered. Aline herself must have told her. She
uttered a falsehood when she declared that she did not know the
mysterious fair-faced woman whose power was so mysterious and unnatural.