"Your manner tells me that you know she did, and your anxiety about her to-day convinces me that you have seen some account of the Hampstead tragedy." "I do not know that she went there, but she knew Seligmann. I think that accounts for my anxiety." "And for some reason you think it within the bounds of possibility that Miss Wickham may have attacked him. I may tell you that I do not believe she is responsible for the murder." He did not answer. Quarles, who had been gazing round the room, apparently uninterested in the conversation, turned suddenly. "Evidently you don't agree with my friend, Mr. Marsh. You are not quite sure that Miss Wickham is innocent. It is a painful subject. May I ask if you are engaged to Miss Wickham?" "Really, you----" "I quite understand," said Quarles. "I am man of the world enough to understand the desirability of keeping such things secret. Family reasons. Her position and yours are so different. It would be awkward if such an engagement were to mean the stoppage of supplies. The head of the family has to be thought of. Peers do not always go to the stage for their wives." "Sir, you overstep the limits of our short acquaintance," said Marsh with some dignity. "Let me tell you, sir, that you treat the affair far too cavalierly. It looks as if Mr. Seligmann had been killed by a man rather than by a woman. You couldn't have read of the murder till this afternoon, yet you went to River Mansions this morning." "What are you attempting to suggest?" Marsh asked, his face pale, either with fear or anger. "I suggest that you know why Miss Wickham went to Mr. Seligmann and that it was upon some matter which concerned yourself." "Do you know Seligmann?" Marsh asked. "I know a great deal about him." "Then you know that he was a different man, according to his company. You may only have seen the decent side of him, but he was a blood-sucker of the worst description." "So he had you in his money-lending hands, had he?" "He had. Morally, I had paid my debt, but a legal quibble kept me in his power, and he refused to give up certain papers of mine." "Which you had no right to part with, I presume," said Quarles. "Miss Wickham said she had some influence with Seligmann," Marsh went on, taking no notice of the professor's remark, "and said she would try and get the papers back." "What price was she to pay for them?" "Price!" "You didn't expect Seligmann to give them up for nothing?" "He wanted her to go on tour, I believe, instead of bringing her out in town, as he had half promised to do." "It was natural perhaps that your future wife should be willing to make a sacrifice for your sake." "It was hardly a sacrifice. She is not good enough for the London stage. Besides, I am not engaged to her. Friendship is----" "I warrant she considers herself engaged to you." "I cannot help that." "Of course not," said the professor, "but you were glad enough to get the papers. May I look at the envelope they came in?"