"By the colour of his eyes and hair, and more particularly by the scar on his forehead. For a while I could not place him, though I was positive I knew the man. Then suddenly it flashed across me, and the identity of his name with yours struck me. You remember how startled you were? I concluded of course from the name that he must be some connection, but it never dawned upon me he was your brother. I can hardly describe to you what I felt when you told me." "Can you imagine what it was to me to have to tell you?" "I know--don't think of it now. It has all been very terrible--very horrible. And the worst of it is I fear there is more to come!" She paled again, and looked up quickly. "Is there something you are keeping from me? If so it would be kinder to tell me. I can bear anything now I think." The Major appeared nervous and ill at ease. "Well, Mrs. Arkel, I feel in one way I ought to, and yet the subject is so very painful for both of us----" "For both of us?" "Surely you know how I feel----" "Yes, yes; but tell me what you have in your mind." "Well, then, I am very much inclined to think that your brother killed my uncle." Miriam remained perfectly calm. She had fully expected this; but she felt secure from what he had said, that for her sake he would take no action. "What reasons have you for thinking that?" "Perhaps it is safer to call them suspicions. I have really no direct evidence, only I feel that between you and me, even on this terrible topic, absolute frankness is best. I admit that for long past I have not been able to dissociate in my mind the fact of your brother having been in Lesser Thorpe on Christmas Eve, and having been heard to threaten my uncle, from the fact of the old man having been murdered the following night. You may say it was pure coincidence--that it is mere conjecture on my part, based on the most fallible of circumstantial evidence; but I tell you candidly that if it had not been for you, I should have sifted that thing to the bottom long ago. As it was I preferred to leave it in the hands of the police." "What you say is perfectly true, and I, too, would rather we spoke quite freely on the subject, horrible as it is. I tell you that from the bottom of my heart I don't believe that Jabez is guilty of this crime. But there is another thing I must also tell you. Mrs. Parsley told me before she left to-day that the boy Shorty has recently made certain confessions in connection with Mr. Barton's murder, amongst them that he saw Jabez in the library that night--in fact, he accuses Jabez directly of the murder." "And even in the face of that you believe him innocent? My dear Mrs. Arkel, I confess I cannot. It requires only the least bit of evidence to confirm my suspicions. But I am glad you told me this, for it is serious." "You won't allow it to alter you? For my sake you won't----" "For your sake I would do almost anything. I say almost, because there is just one thing I cannot do."