"Ah!" Carrington now began to see that things were not so safe as he had imagined. "You mean to go back on your bargain?" "I never made any bargain, you beast. And what is more, I don't intend to make any. Yonder is Dr. Tollart, who can swear that you came down to Barship on the night Leigh was murdered; and yonder is Titus Ark, who saw you enter the Vicarage grounds." "They are both liars," cried Carrington, taken off his guard. "I bain't a liar," said Ark, rising, and tottered toward the barrister, "and wor I a younger man I'd make 'ee pay for saying so." He shook a gnarled fist in Carrington's face. "I did see 'ee round about the Vicarage. I swear to it, if needs be, before judge and jury. I bain't afeared." "And you _will_ be required to swear before a judge and jury," said Hendle, in a cold, measured tone, "when Carrington is in the dock." "In the dock!" Carrington stepped back, trying to command his nerves, for he now began to understand the full extent of his peril. "And on what charge?" "You killed Leigh," growled Mallien savagely. "Yes, you did, so don't deny it, you criminal. And you dare to accuse me." "I do accuse you," said Carrington, driven to bay, and becoming fierce out of sheer desperation. "It was you who killed Leigh to get that will. I accuse you in the presence of these witnesses." "Pshaw!" said Rupert, contemptuously. "What is the use of your talking, Carrington? The game's up. We have got you down here to have you arrested." "You can't arrest me," said the barrister, with an air of bravado. "I shall go at once to Tarhaven and give information against Mallien." Rupert got between the barrister and the door toward which he was retreating swiftly. "Stop where you are," he commanded. "There will be no need for you to go to Tarhaven. In an hour Inspector Lawson will be here, and then, if you dare, you can lay an information against Mallien." "Oh!" Carrington winced and grew very white. "This is a trap." "It is," said Mallien, with malignant satisfaction, "and I have lured you into it. You accuse me, do you? Ha! We'll see what you'll say when the handcuffs are on your wrists." "Hendle,"--Carrington turned to his former friend with a cry, half of rage and half of fear--"will you stand by and hear this said of me?" "Why should I interfere?" said Hendle stolidly. "You are only reaping as you have sown. To get money you were prepared to accuse me as you have accused Mallien. And all the time you are the criminal, as we now know." "I am not!" shouted the miserable man, trembling. "You can't prove that I did the deed." "I can prove that you came down to Barship on that night," said Tollart. "And who will take the word of a drunkard?"