"All this may be true, Mr. Gebb, but it does not prove that poor Ferris is guilty." "I think it does," replied Gebb, coolly, "seeing that he pawned the necklace in question. If he isn't the principal, he is an accessory before the fact." "Won't he confess how he became possessed of the diamonds?" "No, not to me. He refuses to say a word in his own defence." "Then I tell you what," said Alder, gravely, "this quixotic young man is defending another person; he is shielding the assassin." "If he is, that shows him to be an accessory either before or after the fact," repeated Gebb. "But who is the person you think he is shielding?" "Dean! I believe the man killed my cousin." "Does Mr. Ferris know Dean?" asked Gebb, looking up sharply. "No. Nor did he know Miss Gilmar, so far as my knowledge goes," said Alder, with a nod. "Ferris has been a friend of mine for many years, and although for certain reasons we are not very intimate, I am sure he is not guilty of this crime." "If Ferris did not know Dean, or does not know him, I don't very well see how he can be shielding him!" cried Gebb, irritably. "If you will excuse me saying so, Mr. Alder, I think you are talking sheer nonsense." "I am sorry you think so," said Alder, stiffly. "Of course I only state that Ferris is not acquainted with Dean, so far as I am aware; but he may know him for all that." "Why?" asked Gebb, pertinently. "Because I am certain that Dean is guilty." "Admitting that he is--which I don't on the strength of the romantic vow--how did Ferris become possessed of the necklace?" "I don't know. Only Ferris can explain that." "Well, then, Mr. Alder, he won't explain. So on the face of it he is guilty, and Dean isn't." "I tell you he is innocent!" said Alder, angrily, "and my friend Mr. Basson can prove it." "Basson--Clement Basson, the barrister?" said Gebb, with a stare. "Why, what on earth has he got to do with it?" "He saw Ferris on the night of the murder!" "Saw him! Where?" "At Grangebury! In the evening." "And Miss Gilmar was murdered at Grangebury," said the detective. "Why, that looks as though Ferris was guilty. Your evidence rather condemns than exonerates him." "Not at all," rejoined Alder, tartly. "I read the evidence of the murder in the daily papers, although I did not know at the time that Miss Ligram was my cousin, Ellen Gilmar." "Well. What of that?" inquired Gebb, rather puzzled by the irrelevancy of this remark. "This much. Mrs. Presk and her servant were at a lecture on Dickens in the Grangebury Town Hall." "I know that." "Well, Mr. Gebb, that lecture was given by Basson!" "By Clement Basson, the barrister, who defended Dean twenty years ago?"