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Have you a wife or a sister, Mr.Curtis, or is there some woman whom you love?
For her sake, have pity on me, and do not drag me into the horrible arena of courts and newspapers." Her pleading, her attitude, her pathetic gestures, gave extraordinary force to an appeal which, by contrast with her extreme agitation, was almost grotesquely inconsequent.

Curtis was at his wits' end to find the line of reasoning calculated to convince this beautiful creature that she might, indeed, begin enduring "for the sake of others" by expressing her determination to give the police all possible assistance.
"There is no urgency for a few minutes," was the best reply he could frame on the spur of the moment.