"To you, I will," answered Chandos; "but it is upon one condition alone, namely, that you give me your word of honour, not to use in my defence any of the facts I am going to state, without my permission." "It is a strange request; and I cannot conceive the motives," replied the other; "but as you have it in your own power to grant or withhold your confidence, I must accede, as your friend. Were I merely your counsel, I would refuse." "Well then, on that condition, I will tell you all that occurred on that night, with the exception of one single fact," said Chandos; "and you will see that I could break to atoms this chain of circumstantial evidence in a moment, if I thought fit. But I do not. Some of the facts may be useful, perhaps, as you will turn them, and some I shall not object to have used in my defence; but others must remain for ever between your breast and mine. I was in the garden, then, when Roberts came to seek me. What he wanted, I do not know. I was close to the spot where he was afterwards found murdered, when he must have been in the walk leading thither, and not a hundred yards from it. I had laid the hoe, in a sloping direction, against one of the pillars of a little temple, covering a fish-pond, and was standing by the pond, talking to Miss Rose Tracy, when--" "Stay, stay!" cried the barrister. "Did Miss Tracy know who you really are?" "Rose did; not Emily," answered Chandos; "we had met before; and she has known me all along." "Ah! then the strange whim is accounted for," said the other with a smile. "Not quite," replied Chandos; "but I do not mean to conceal from you that I love her. However, I was talking with her by the fish-pond, when we suddenly heard the voices of persons coming quickly towards us; for poor Roberts must have met another person in the grounds, after inquiring for me at the house. Rose recognized one of the voices; I both: and, as I had the strongest reasons for not wishing to be found there by one of the persons who approached--" "Mr. Tracy?" asked the barrister. "No," answered Chandos, in a decided tone; "quite another person. But as I did not choose him to find me there, while Miss Tracy made her escape up one of the paths, I ran straight to the hedge, leapt it, and stood in the ditch of the haw-haw for some time, concealed by the hedge. While there, Roberts and the other person approached. They were evidently in high dispute--indeed, they never agreed; but now, it would seem, Roberts lost all respect; and when they were just opposite the fish-pond and the little temple, the other person struck him a blow with his fist. Then, perceiving the hoe, he snatched it up, and hit him with it, twice, upon the head. I got over the hedge directly, resolved to interfere, though I knew I should be recognized at once; but before I could make my way over, poor Roberts lay dead upon the ground, and the other person, hearing, and perhaps seeing some one coming, had fled."