Marie looked round the room, and seeing that the servants had taken their departure, leaving those at the table to walnuts and wine, she concluded that the moment had come to make a clean breast of things. In a low voice, and entirely without emotion, she related all that she had heard from Alan and Dick. The story sounded black enough, and the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Fuller grew longer as she proceeded. When she ended there ensued a silence which rasped Marie’s nerves. “Well?” she asked sharply, and looking from one to the other, “what do you think of it?” “The weight of evidence is decidedly in favor of Sorley’s guilt,” said Mr. Fuller sadly. “I daresay. All the same he is innocent.” “How can you prove that, my dear girl?” “I can’t prove it,” responded Miss Inderwick in a truly feminine way, “but Uncle Ran never did it for all that.” “It is all very dreadful,” moaned Mrs. Fuller, shaken out of her usual state of placid happiness. “I wonder you can speak so quietly, Marie.” “I cried awfully in London,” acknowledged the girl frankly; “but I can’t cry any more. Tears won’t help Uncle Ran, and common-sense will. He is not going to be hanged if I can help it.” “Oh, my dear.” Mrs. Fuller shuddered at the mention of the sinister word. “You intend to prove your uncle’s innocence—or what you presume to be his innocence?” asked the vicar, looking at her doubtfully. “Yes, only I don’t presume anything. I know that Uncle Ran never killed that poor thing. I don’t know who did, but he didn’t.” “How are you going to set about the matter?” “I can’t say,” said Marie curtly, although this statement was not quite true, for she had an idea of making a start, which she did not intend to place before these two ordinary people. “Of course, if your uncle had the peacock, my dear——” “Mrs. Fuller, I am quite sure that Miss Grison brought down the peacock on that day when she paid a visit unasked to The Monastery. She hates Uncle Ran because she thinks he ruined her brother, and is only too glad to get him into trouble.” “But how could she get the peacock?” “From her brother. He had it all the time. Alan said so, and he knows a very great deal about matters.” “Alan has a good head,” said the vicar approvingly. “I think Marie you had better allow him to look into the matter, and stay with us meanwhile. We can send over to The Monastery for your clothes, my dear.” “No thank you. I wished at one time to stay here until Uncle Ran was proved innocent, but I think it is best for me to return to the house in case he should come back again.” “Oh, I hope not,” cried Mrs. Fuller in alarm, “he would assuredly be arrested as soon as the news got about.” “It wouldn’t get about,” said Marie resolutely, “for I should hide Uncle Ran somewhere until we learned the truth. There are plenty of secret places in the house where he could be concealed.”