"God and His saints know that he had no hand in it!" cried Martin, with a remarkably sane look on his face. "A woman ruined one, a woman slew the other; and the poor soul lies in chains--in chains." And he fell to weeping, as though his heart would break with sorrow and pain. "I wonder if this is the truth," thought Gebb. "Perhaps, after all, Laura did murder her brother, and Miss Gilmar to save her denounced Dean. But there is no sense to be got out of this lunatic; his evidence would not stand in a court of law. The only thing is to search for that confession, so the sooner I set to work the better.--Martin," he said, aloud, "can you show me over the house?" "Not I! Not I! Ask old Jane. Come, and I'll take you to old Jane;" and shouldering his spade again, Martin walked off round the comer of the terrace, singing:-- "God it far away, alas! The Devil is beside us; And as we wander thro' the world, He is the one to guide us. "He gives with grin, the wage of sin; And when the fiend hath paid us, We stand outside the gate of Hell, With Christ alone to aid us." Old Jane proved to be a grim and elderly female in a rusty black dress and a still rustier bonnet She came out of a side door, and wiping her hands on a coarse apron, curtsied to Gebb, while Martin, introducing the pair with a regal wave of the hand, danced off round the corner. "What may you be pleased to want?" asked old Jane, when the scarecrow gardener had disappeared. "I have received permission from Mr. Alder to look over the house," replied the detective, "and I wish you to show it to me." "There ain't much to see, sir," croaked the ancient dame, "it's all dust and darkness. I doubt if my old legs would carry me over it." "Oh, well, I can go by myself, Jane," said Gebb, cheerfully. "Mrs. Grix, if you please!" snapped Jane, indignantly. "I only allows Miss Edith to call me by my first name. Poor pretty dear, and she's gone away for ever." "I wouldn't be too sure of that," rejoined Gebb, dryly. "Mr. Alder has met with an accident and may die; in which case Miss Wedderburn will return here as mistress." "Mr. Alder's ill, is he?" said Jane, in no very regretful tone, "and may die. Ah, well," with a lachrymose whine, "all flesh is grass, that it is; and if Miss Edith does come back I hope she'll shut up the Yeller Room." "For what reason, Mrs. Grix?" "'Cause it's haunted by spirits," replied Mrs. Grix, with a mysterious look. "I've heard the two of 'em quarrelling there." "Which two? What two?" asked Gebb, who began to think that the old lady had been at the bottle. "Miss Gilmar and the master; they 'aunts the Yeller Room and fights. I knows it; 'cause I sleeps here all alone, save for Martin as lives in the back part; an' I hears voices, that I do." "I wonder you are not more afraid of that madman than of ghosts."