My face flushed.
"Why accuse me of that ?" I asked quickly.

"Merely because I was in that yard ?" She drew back a step, one hand grasping her skirt.
"Not altogether.

You were hiding there, and--and you were afraid of the policeman." I could not explain; it would require too long, and she would in all probability refuse to believe the story.

Besides, what difference could it make?
She had as much to explain as I; no more reason to suspect me than I had her.

Let us meet then on common ground.
"If I grant your hasty guess to be partially correct," I returned finally, my voice deepening with earnestness, "and confess I was avoiding observation--what then?
Can you not also believe me a man capable of treating you honorably?
Is it totally impossible for you to conceive of circumstances so compelling, as to cause one to avoid the police, and yet involve no real loss of manhood ?" She bowed her head slightly, lowering her eyes before mine.