"You mistake, Signor Fortini," he gasped out at last; "you are in
error. I cannot have made any such exclamation. I have no
consciousness of anything of the kind. In any case no such monstrous
idea, as you would infer from it, ever entered into my mind. You
know how anxious I was about Paolina's prolonged absence. I was
thinking of her; at least, I suppose so, if, indeed, I uttered her
name. I have no recollection. I don't know why I should have done
so. All I know is that no such horrible and impossible suggestion
ever presented itself to my mind for an instant. If it were
otherwise," continued the young man, after a few moments of
painfully concentrated thought,--"if it were otherwise, why did I
not suggest such a solution of the mystery when I found myself
accused of the crime?"
"That, Signor Marchese, those who know you best will be least at a
loss to understand," replied the lawyer. "The motive that ruled your
conduct then, is the same that rules it now. You were then
unwilling, as you are now unwilling, to exculpate yourself at the
cost of inculpating one who is dear to you. Your objection, I am
bound to tell you, carries no weight with it. I cannot abandon that
part of my case that rests upon the striking fact that your own
first impression was that Paolina was guilty."
"I utterly deny, and will continue to deny, that any such impression
was ever present to my mind.
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