"Willingly," replied Carver, and commenced forthwith. "My late client, as you know, went for years in fear of his life," he said in his dry way; "but shortly before the murder his fears were ended by a communication from a Mr. Pallant. This gentleman told him that Captain Carew had died in San Francisco, and as a reward for his intelligence asked Mr. Edermont for a packet of letters written by Lady Burville to her second husband. Mr. Edermont was unwilling to give them up, as he saw that Pallant wanted to blackmail the unfortunate woman--your mother, Miss Dora. He refused to comply with Mr. Pallant's request, and wrote to Lady Burville at Hernwood Hall, asking her to come to his study in the Red House on the night of the second of August between eleven and twelve o'clock, when he undertook to give her up the letters." "But why did he choose so late an hour?" "Because he did not wish to compromise Lady Burville's position; nor did he wish Pallant to know. This letter he posted himself. But Joad--who was afraid of losing his home with his patron, and thinking something was wrong--obtained the letter in some way from the village post-office, and made himself master of its contents. Those he communicated to me as I have told them. So you see," continued Mr. Carter, "that Edermont expected a visit from Lady Burville on that night. He also expected a visit from Scott." "Yes," said Allen eagerly; "he wrote to me, and appointed almost the same hour. But why?" "I will tell you, doctor. He wished to give Lady Burville the letters, but only conditionally that in your presence she admitted that Dora was her child." "Oh! so he repented telling me that Carew killed my father?" "No; but he repented letting you remain under the impression that Dora was the child of your father's murderer. That, as he knew, was a bar to your marriage, and to do away with it he asked you to meet Lady Burville." "But I did not meet her!" "No; because you were late, and she would not wait. But let us continue. Edermont also wrote a letter to Mallison, telling him that now Carew was dead, and his fears at an end, he would no longer pay him the pension he had hitherto allowed him. That letter was the cause of his death." "But how?" asked Dora and Allen together. "You shall hear. Joad, learning, as I have said, about the appointment with Lady Burville, made up his mind to overhear the conversation. He knew by the letter he had opened that the postern-gate and the glass-door were to be left ajar, so about eleven o'clock he got into the house that way." "Without being seen by Mr. Edermont?" "Yes. Mr. Edermont at that moment was in his bedroom, so Joad slipped through the study and hid in the darkness of the hall. Here he altered the clock by putting it on an hour." "But why did he do that?"