“Oh, I don’t know anything definite,” she said, with a somewhat defiant glance at Mrs Everett. “And if I did, I’m not allowed to tell it.” “If you know anything at all,—definite or suggestive, you’re to tell it, whether you’re allowed or not!” Gibbs cried, willing to try intimidation. “Don’t you know, woman, that you can be jailed if you withhold information from the police?” Mrs Everett giggled. “You can’t frighten Kate,” she said; “she has no fear of anything.” “Why should I have?” and Kate looked belligerent. “I know all about the police. I’ll tell anything I see fit to, and nothing more.” Calmly, she took up the mass of white tulle, and began to sew on it. “That attitude won’t do, Kate,” said Gibbs, seriously. “Bluff and bravado won’t get you anywhere.” “I don’t want to get anywhere; I haven’t set out for anywhere,” and with a flippant swish of the tulle stuff, Kate rose and started to leave the room. “Wait a minute,” ordered Gibbs. “You’ve gone too far to back out now. You said, or implied, you had something to tell,—now, you tell it!” “Goodness, Kate, tell it,—if you’ve anything to tell!” Mrs Everett spoke with a sharp glance at the woman. “Well, I will, then. But it’s no tale of happenings or that. It’s only that I know Miss Prall was wishing Mr Binney out of the way. She was wishing it so hard that I myself heard her say, ‘If I was sure I wouldn’t get caught, I’d kill him myself!’” “She said that?” “Yes, sir, she did. Mrs Everett heard her, too.” “I did,” admitted Mrs Everett as Gibbs looked at her inquiringly. “But don’t take it too seriously. Letitia Prall and I are enemies, have been for years,—but I’m not the one to brand her with the mark of Cain! That I’m not.” “Well, I will,” declared Kate. “She’s quite capable of it, she has expressed her willingness, and she had strong motive. What more do you want?” “What was her motive?” asked Gibbs in a casual tone, hoping to draw further light on these remarkable statements. “Why,——” Kate hesitated, but Mrs Everett smiled and nodded permission, and Kate went on; “why, you see Miss Dorcas and young Mr Bates are friendly-like, and old Binney——” “Sir Herbert,” prompted Mrs Everett, pointedly. “Well, Sir Herbert, then, he was in favor of the two marrying.” “And neither Mrs Everett nor Miss Prall approve the match?” Gibbs put in quickly. “Of course they don’t! Well, Miss Prall, she’s one who would try and try to persuade Sir Herbert to change his mind——” “And his will,” suggested Gibbs. “And his will,” agreed Kate, “and then, when she couldn’t persuade him,—he had the devil’s own stubbornness,——” “And so has she,” observed Mrs Everett. “That’s right! Well, when she couldn’t do anything with him, she up and killed him.” “Women, he wrote.” “Of course; Eliza Gurney helped. Probably Eliza did the actual deed. She’d cut off anybody’s head that Letitia Prall told her to! But those are the women you’re looking for, and if you want to jail me for telling you, go ahead!”