Cora turns her eyes slowly upon the man. She surveys him with infinite insolence, and then she turns with wonderful coolness toward Ellen Arthur. "Miss Arthur," she says, with a malicious gleam in her eyes, "this will interest you. I knew that man ten years ago. I was making my first venture out in the world, and it was a very bad one. I fell in love with his pretty face, and married him. Before long I discovered that matrimony was a mania of Mr. Percy's--by-the-by, he sailed under another name then. I found that he had another wife living; a woman he had married for her money. Well, being sensitive, I took offense, and after a little, I ran away from him, carrying with me the certificates of his two marriages, which I had taken some pains to get possession of. After that--" Cora pauses suddenly and glances toward Madeline. "After that you went to Europe. You may pass over the foreign tour, and take up the story five years later," subjoins Madeline, coldly. "After that, I went to Europe," echoes Cora. "And five years later found me in Gotham." "Be explicit now, please: no omissions," commands Madeline. "Five years ago, then," resumes Cora, "that gentleman there," motioning to Davlin, but never turning her face toward him, "came to me one day with the information that my dear husband was a rich man, thanks to some deceased old relative, and that his other wife was dead. For some reason this other marriage had been kept very secret, and my friend there argued that in case anything happened to Percy, I might come in as his widow, and claim his fortune. Well, Mr. Percy did not die, more's the pity. Instead of that he lived and squandered his money in less than three years. He was hurt, somehow, and a certain Mr. Philip Girard was falsely accused and convicted for attempted murder." "Who was the real would-be assassin?" asked Madeline, sternly. "Lucian Davlin," emphatically. Madeline turns swiftly to Percy. "Mr. Percy, explain, if you wish to lighten your own burden, by what means did that man persuade you to let him go free?" "By--threatening me with an action for--" "Bigamy!" finished Cora. The villain, bereft of all hope and courage, stood white and trembling, under the eyes of his accusers and judges. "I am letting these people hear you tell these things because I want that man,"--pointing to John Arthur, who had long since collapsed into a big chair--"to hear all this from your own lips," says Madeline. Turning again to Cora, she says: "Lucian Davlin made use of the papers--the certificates you had stolen from Edward Percy--to intimidate that gentleman, and secure himself from danger. Am I correct?" "Yes," replies Cora, casting a malignant glance from one to the other of the accused men. "Very good. Now we will pass on four or more years. You were in some little trouble last June, Mrs. Arthur. Explain how you came to Bellair." "How?" "Yes, for what purpose. And at whose instigation."