"Very easily. Ferdy came home drunk on the night the crime was committed. I locked him in his own room, and took the key to mine. He could not have got out, and did not, until I released him next morning--hours after the murder was perpetrated." Anthony nodded his satisfaction. "That settles the business. This letter is all bluff. Anything more?" Clarice nodded in her turn. "Ferdy was engaged to marry Prudence Clarke," she said. "_Was_ engaged! Is the engagement at an end?" "Yes. Had you not come over, I should have sent for you. I saw Prudence to-day, and she declines to marry Ferdy." "Why, I thought she was in love with him." "She was--she is. But Zara, the dancer----" "Butterfly. Yes, I know. Go on." "Well, she called on Prudence on the day my guardian was buried, and told her that if she married Ferdy, Mr. Clarke would be accused of the murder." "What rubbish. Everyone knows that Osip is guilty." "Quite so," said Clarice, slowly; "but I am beginning to doubt that, Anthony. I thought that there was no mystery about this crime, but from this letter and from the attitude of Zara, I begin to think that there is." "H'm!" from Ackworth. "You believe that there is a conspiracy?" "Yes, I do, and Sir Daniel has to do with it. Also Zara. The man wants to marry me, and the woman to marry Ferdy. But I had better tell you everything I have learned, so that you may be in a position to see things from your point of view." Anthony listened carefully, while Clarice detailed her interview with Prudence, and also related what Clarke had said. "I am perfectly sure," she ended, firmly, "that there is some connection between Zara and Sir Daniel." "I don't see that, Clarice--upon my word, I can't see it. Zara evidently went on her own, so as to get Ferdy to herself. Sir Daniel fried his own fish--if, indeed, that letter is written by him." "I'll soon learn that," rejoined Miss Baird, putting the letter into the pocket of her dinner gown. "Then, I have to tell you something about Ferdy," and she related how the boy had attempted to bluff her, and how she had got the better of him. "It seems to me," said Ackworth, when she finished, "that Ferdy is being made use of in some way." "I am quite certain of that, and the crime is being used as a threat to make him do what he is told." "By Jerce?" "Or by Zara. I grant that the whole thing is a mystery, although you and I can see the reasons for the actions of Jerce and this dancer." "Marriage in both cases," said Anthony, musingly. "But why not question Ferdy?" Clarice's lip curled. "Ferdy would only tell lies," she said, disdainfully. "No, I must learn what Ferdy has to do with these matters in some way which will not arouse his suspicions. Anthony"--she placed her hands on his shoulders--"you trust me?" He placed his hands on hers--"Dearest, what a question." "Well, then, I am going to do something very daring." "What is it?" asked Ackworth, anxiously.