a question and the lawyer answered, "If she would only talk to me of her own free will and tell me what her part, if any, was in the actual shooting. But I'm bound to respect Drake's demands not to question her, however foolish and quixotic they are. Besides, maybe we're both wrong and she doesn't know a thing more about it than he says she does."
"Well, I'm for her," the elder Drake responded, trying to appear as gruff as possible. "She's been foolish, but I think she's got the stuff in her. And she's stood by my nephew in great style so far. I think now that she's doing all she can."
Which shows how far wrong astute business men can be at times.
Carmelita saw Lucy Hodge getting into her sport car up the street, half a block. Lucy had not been near her since the day before the shooting. Probably she was on the side of Rao-Singh. For a moment Carmelita stood uncertainly in the doorway of the courthouse. She was utterly wretched. Dudley was somewhere inside there in a terrible cell and she was helpless to assist him. His lawyer and his uncle had not consulted her, and her promise to Dudley forbade her to go to them with the truth or stand up and confess it in court. Wasn't there anything—
It had not required the ominous words ex-
