For an instant Salome blanched. She was quite intelligent enough to see the red light. She didn’t need to be told that if her movements had attracted the notice of the police her identity could hardly fail to come out before very long, if it hadn’t come out already. Yet she struggled against what was coming. “She had nothing to do with the crime. She was a friend of Dr. Weathered’s. Her only motive for being there was to protect him from the other women.” She spoke almost in a whisper. “To protect him from being poisoned, do you mean? Or do you mean that she was jealous, and wanted to prevent him from dancing with anyone but herself?” At last Tarleton had fired the shot which he had had in preparation. Its effect was startling indeed. A dark red flood overspread the girl’s face; for a moment she fought with her emotions, and the next she broke down in a flood of tears. “You know it was I,” she sobbed out. “You have been playing with me. You think I am a bad woman, I suppose. But I’m not. I take Heaven to witness that I only meant to do what was right. I never dreamed that I had any feeling for him that--that wasn’t--that wasn’t right. I was angry with him for the way he treated my mother. When he began to neglect her and go after other women, pretending that they were only his patients, I hated them. I never thought of anything else. I thought I was doing my duty to my mother in watching him. But he found me out. He knew everything about women. He saw that I was jealous on my own account as well; and he set himself to soothe me. He could fascinate any woman if he tried. He pretended to confide in me. He told me about his patients, and complained that they wouldn’t leave him alone. Sometimes I believed him, and thought it was their fault, and then I thought it was his. I didn’t know what to think at last. I went there that night to see if I could find out....” The broken utterance ended in a wail of grief. CHAPTER X THE CASE AGAINST LADY VIOLET I felt honestly sorry for the poor girl in spite of the vindictive attitude she had taken up just before. I had no doubt that she was quite sincere, and that she had unconsciously deceived herself as to her real feelings up to the last moment. Tarleton remained calm in the face of her outburst; when he spoke again his tone was courteous but businesslike--perhaps the most considerate one to adopt in the circumstances. “You have told Dr. Cassilis and me very little that we weren’t prepared to hear, and nothing that we aren’t able to understand and allow for. But now we have to ask you for some information. In the first place I should like to know how you obtained admission to the Domino Club.” Sarah made an effort to collect herself. As far as I could judge she was telling the truth, up to a certain point at all events. “I bought a ticket of admission from Madame Bonnell.” We both started and exchanged looks of surprise.