"Can you see? Zara could get into trouble for not having given the alarm when she saw Ferdy--as she thought--kill Horran. Then, again, the mere fact that Osip was in Zara's company is suspicious. I have made it clear that Ferdy is innocent, and that Jerce was guilty, and that now the doctor and Barras are dead, and Osip is arrested, the best thing will be for Zara to give up Ferdy and hold her tongue for her own sake and for her mother's." "And what does she say?" "She has agreed, and so has Mrs. Dumps. They will neither of them say a single word." "But Mrs. Dumps has such a long tongue." "About other people's affairs, but about her own she can be silent enough. You need have no fear, Clarice. The Purple Fern murders are at an end with the death of Barras." "But it is strange, dearest, that Osip should act in this way towards me," said Clarice, who had explained the letter. Anthony agreed. "I can't understand the man's nature," he said, "except that we are told that everything evil has some good in it. I suppose he was touched by your devotion to Ferdy." "I suppose he was," said Clarice, wearily. "But now, Anthony, you must see the new lawyer"--she gave him the name--"and arrange everything for me. Send Ferdy to Australia with Prudence. I never wish to see him again. I am so sick and tired, and ill--oh"--she put her arms round his neck, and placed her cheek against his--"I am ill--I am very, very ill." And she was. Anthony had to carry her to her room, and there she lay for three weeks between life and death. Wentworth said that she had narrowly escaped an attack of brain fever. But the devotion of Mrs. Rebson brought her successfully back to health. Yet for weeks she was still weak, although out of danger, and Anthony would not allow her to talk of the past. She never asked for Ferdy, although the brother she had been devoted to never put in an appearance. Ackworth saw the new lawyer and arranged the affairs of the estate, and made all provisions for his marriage. Six months later they were married very quietly in the parish church of Anthony's native town, and went for the honeymoon to Switzerland. There, one day, while sitting on the mountains above Les Avants, watching the grey peak of Jaman soaring into the cloudless summer sky, Clarice heard all that her husband knew about the conclusion of the troubles which had begun with the death of Horran. "Ferdy is in Australia, as you know, darling," Said the lover-husband, "and is married to Prudence. Mr. Clarke writes me that Ferdy is behaving very well, and is studying for a doctor. Mr. Clarke himself has got a church up the country in Victoria. I think everything is right there." "He is getting the five hundred a year, as you arranged, my dear. When he is twenty-five, of course, he will get the two thousand, and let us hope he will be more sensible." "I hope so," sighed Mrs. Ackworth, "but Ferdy is a most extraordinary character. He never seems to think that he is in the wrong."