"'You have fooled me and spoilt my life, but you shall regret it. You think that after all these years I am to be thrown off like an old glove. No, by Heaven! You may throw me over, but I vow that you shall never marry this sailor, or any one else, whatever I may have to do to prevent it. You say I have the curse of the Carnes in my blood. You are right, and you shall have cause to regret it.' "The words were so loud and the tone so threatening that I ran round into the house and to the door, and should have entered it had not Mr. Carne, who was standing there, having apparently just come up, begged me not to do so, saying that his sister and cousin were having a quarrel, but that it was over now. As he was there I went away for a few minutes, and when I returned I found that Miss Carne had gone upstairs, and that her cousin had left, having, as Mr. Carne told me, left by the open window." While Lieutenant Gulston was speaking a deep silence reigned in the room, and as he mentioned what Reginald Carne had said, every eye turned towards Ronald Mervyn, who stood with face as white as death, and one arm with clenched hand across his breast, glaring at the speaker. "Do you mean, sir----?" he burst out as the lieutenant ceased; but the coroner at once intervened. "I must pray you to keep silent for the present, Captain Mervyn. You will have every opportunity of speaking presently. "As to these words that you overheard, Mr. Gulston, did you recognise the speaker of them before you heard from Mr. Carne who was with his sister in the drawing-room?" "Certainly. I recognised the voice at once as that of Captain Mervyn, whom I have met on several occasions." "Were you impressed with his words, or did they strike you as a mere outburst of temper?" "I was so impressed with the tone in which they were spoken that I ran round to the drawing-room to protect Miss Carne from violence." "Was it your impression, upon thinking of them afterwards, that the words were meant as a menace to Miss Carne?" "No, sir. The impression left upon my mind was that Captain Mervyn intended to fix some quarrel on me, as I had no doubt whatever that it was to me he alluded in his threats. The matter dwelt in my mind all the evening, for naturally nothing could have been more unpleasant than a public quarrel with a near relative of a lady to whom one is attached." There was a long silence. Then the coroner asked the usual question of the jurymen. None of them had a question to ask; indeed, all were so confounded by this new light thrown upon the matter that they had no power of framing a question.