Mary Roberts Rinehart

“ The contempt in Dick's voice whipped the color to Gregory's face and clenched his fist. But he relaxed in a moment and laughed.
“Don't worry, Bassett,” he said, his eyes on Dick. “We haven't any reason to like each other, but he's bigger than I am. I won't hit him.” Then he hardened his voice. “But I'll remind you, Clark, that personally I don't give a God-damn whether you swing or not. ”

“ It's the best solution to a number of things.”
“What do you suppose brought Jean Melis here?”
“What? To see the best play in New York. Besides, why not allow the man a healthy curiosity? He was pretty closely connected with a hectic part of your life, my dear. Now buck up, and for the Lord's sake forget the Frenchman. He's got nothing.”
“He saw me that night, on the stairs. He never took his eyes off me at the inquest.”
She gave, however, an excellent performance that night, and nothing more was heard of the valet. ”

“ Bassett said doggedly. “The only living witness who could be called would be the valet. And remember this: for ten years he has believed that she did it. He'll have built up a story by this time, perhaps unconsciously, that might damn her.”
Dick moved.
“There's only one thing to do. You're right, Gregory. I'll never expose her to that.”
“You're crazy,” Bassett said angrily.
“Not at all. I told you I wouldn't hide behind a woman. As a matter of fact, I've learned what I wanted. Lucas wasn't murdered. I didn't shoot him. That's what really matters. I'm no worse off than I was before ”

“ It was to Bassett then that he told his story, he and Bassett sitting, Dick standing with his elbow on the mantelpiece, tall and weary and almost detached.
“I've got to make my own position plain in this,” he said. “I didn't like Clark, and I kept her from marrying him. There was one time, before she met Lucas, when she almost did it. I was away when she decided on that fool trip to the Clark ranch. We couldn't get a New York theater until November, and she had some time, so they went. I've got her story of what happened there. You can check it up with what you know.” ”

“ Sometimes a man sows,” he added, with a wry smile, “and the other fellow reaps.”
Bassett went out after that, going to the office on the chance of a letter from Melis, but there was none. When he came back he found Dick standing over a partially packed suitcase, and knew that they had come to the end of the road indeed. ”