"He did; so useful that I hope to prove the innocence of Dr. Lester, and secure the arrest of the real murderer." "Lucas Lovel?" "No. According to Brent, that gentleman is innocent." "I told you so, Iris," interjected Mrs. Mexton mildly. "I am sure Mr. Lovel is too much a gentleman to commit so terrible a crime." "I don't think good birth or good breeding have much to do with the prevention of crime," replied Iris disdainfully; "there is criminality amongst the upper classes, as in the lower, only they sin in a more refined manner. But this is beside the question. What I wish to know is: If Mr. Lovel is not guilty--which I beg leave to doubt--who is?" "What would you say to Miss Clyde?" "I should laugh." "And I," said Mrs. Mexton energetically, "would be utterly disinclined to believe that a Christian gentlewoman would fall to such a depth of degradation." "Christian gentlewomen, like all others of their sex, are amenable to jealousy," declared Paul, grimly. "Jealousy!" repeated Iris--"and Miss Clyde was jealous?" "So Brent says. She loves Lucas Lovel and hated your sister." "Does Brent say she committed the crime on that motive?" "Yes; he saw her following the pair in the lane on that night." "Then Lovel did meet Milly?" "He did." "And Mr. Lovel bribed him to hold his tongue?" "Precisely," assented Paul--"and with a five-pound note." "Then I tell you what," said Iris, coolly--"Mr. Lovel paid Brent also to accuse Miss Clyde!" "H'm! It's not improbable," said Mexton, pulling his moustache. "I am more inclined to believe in the guilt of Lovel than in that of Miss Clyde. But I'll see her to-morrow and ask her for an explanation." "She won't give it." "In that case I'll tell Drek, and he'll force her to speak." "Oh, dear! oh, dear!" sighed Mrs. Mexton. "It is truly terrible to think of the way in which we have been brought into contact with crime! And poor Dr. Lester in gaol!" "He won't be in goal long," said Paul, with a satisfied nod. "You are going to prove his innocence?" cried Iris, anxiously. "I am; but I don't intend to leave him in prison until I do so. To-morrow I'll get bail for him, and he will be a free man--at all events till his trial." "It is very good of you, Paul," said Iris, gratefully; and Mrs. Mexton endorsed the statement with a nod of her head. She was a simple and pious old woman, but not quite the company for two young and ardent people. Her views on the matter of the murder were singularly crude; and the point she dwelt on most was that Lester's loss and arrest were a judgment on him for his long indulgence in the drinking vice. But, knowing him as she had done, the most part of his life, she did not believe he was guilty, and stated this opinion to Iris, who was much comforted thereby. "I do not love Dr. Lester," she confessed, "and I never approved of my mother's second marriage. All the same, I should be terribly sorry to see him hanged."