“On the eve of the wedding day? With the house already in gala dress for the ceremony?”

“Yes, suppose the very nearness of the ceremony made it seem to him impossible to go through with it.”

“Well?”

“Well, and then suppose he did ask Madeleine to free him, and suppose she refused. And she would refuse! I know her nature well enough to know she never would give him up to the other girl if she could help it. And then suppose, when she refused to free him⁠—you know he has a fearfully quick temper, and that awful paper-cutter lay right there, handy⁠—suppose he stabbed her in a moment of desperate anger.”