Her confusion was so evident that Merrington did not think it worth while to pursue the point. "If your story is true, why have you not told it before?" he said. "If you are merely the unfortunate victim of circumstances that you claim to be, why did you not announce your innocence when I was questioning you at the moat-house on the day after the murder?" The girl hesitated perceptibly before answering the question. "Perhaps I might have done so but for your recognition of my mother," she said at length, in a low tone. "I fail to see how that affected your own position." "It seemed to me then that it did," she responded in a firmer tone. "I knew that my story sounded improbable, but after learning what you knew about my mother it seemed to me that you would be even less likely to believe me, so I thought the best thing I could do was to keep silence, and trust to the truth coming to light in some other way." The recollection of the incidents of his visit to the moat-house came thronging into Merrington's mind at this reply. "Did you see your mother when you got downstairs on the night of the murder?" he asked. "Not at first. She came in afterwards." "How long afterwards?" The girl, struck by a new note in his voice, looked at him with horror in her widened eyes. "I understand what you mean," she replied, "but you are wrong--quite wrong. My mother knows nothing whatever about it. She did not even know that I had been upstairs. She is as innocent as I am." "That does not carry us very far," said Merrington coldly, rising to his feet and touching a bell in front of him. "I do not believe you have told all." CHAPTER XXIV Strong in his conviction that the story of Hazel Rath was largely the product of an hysterical imagination, Merrington dismissed it from his mind and devoted all his energies to the search for Nepcote. The task looked a difficult one, but Merrington did not despair of accomplishing it before the day came round for the adjourned hearing of the charge against the girl. He knew that it was a difficult matter for a wanted man to remain uncaptured in a civilized community for any length of time if the pursuit was determined enough, and in this instance the military police were assisting the criminal authorities.