She has all her faculties, no doubt, but a trial such as this leads her to see things in ways we cannot realise.' 'You forget that it is _not_ this shock that has so affected her.' 'Wilfrid, remember that her father's death is itself mysterious.

She may know more of what led to it than anyone else does.

She may very well have foreseen it; it may have distracted her, the cause, whatever it was.

She could not disclose anything--some secret, perhaps--that nearly concerned her father; you know how strong were the ties between them.' Perhaps it was inevitable that a suggestion of this kind should ultimately offer itself.

Wilfrid had not hit upon the idea, for he had from the first accepted without reflection the reasons for Hood's suicide which were accepted by everyone who spoke of the subject.