It was a pale-faced Jenny who sat considering a reply to this remark. She began to be aware that she had inadvertently set a ball rolling, the progress of which she was powerless to stop. That chance discovery in the garret had resuscitated an old scandal, and brought her into contact with people of whose existence she had hitherto been ignorant. As a matter of fact Jenny was responsible for the revival of the Larcher affair. Her narration of the plot had caused the writing of the novel, and that in its turn had freshened the memory of Mrs. Bezel, with the result that Claude had been told the truth. Now he had come to the source to learn more. "I don't see how I can help," said Jenny, fencing with the inevitable. "If, as you say, Mr. Larcher saw the _Canterbury Observer_, he must know as much as I do about the matter." "Very true," replied Tait promptly; "but there are many things in the novel which are not mentioned in the report of the case." "Those things are fictitious. You must go to Frank for information about them." "Was that scarfpin episode fictitious?" "No," replied Jenny, with some hesitation. "Kerry told me that." "Kerry!" "Our man-servant. He has been with my father ever since I can remember, and is quite the autocrat of the household. He found me with those papers one day after I told Frank the story, and took them away from me. You have no idea how angry he was that I had read them." "Yet he told you about the scarfpin?" "Oh! that was because I asked him who had committed the crime," said Jenny quickly. "At first he would not talk about it, but when I said that no doubt Jeringham was guilty, since he had fled, Kerry denied it, and asserted that the crime was committed by the man who owned the garnet scarfpin." "Did he say who owned it?" "No. He went away before I could ask him, and will not let me speak of the matter. In the book Frank makes Michael Dene the owner of the pin." "Ah! and Michael Dene is Francis Hilliston in real life." "How do you know that?" asked the girl quickly, with a nervous start. "My dear young lady, I have read the report of the case and the novel. It is easy to see who your fictitious personages are. Do you know Mr. Hilliston?" "A little. He has visited my father once or twice, but we have not seen him now for many years. In fact, I had almost forgotten his name till I saw it in the case." "Humph! In the novel Michael Dene, the man meant for Hilliston, commits the crime. Was that your idea or Linton's?" "It was Frank's. Dene was the least likely person to be suspected, and it was necessary to keep up the mystery to the end. But I think he ought to have made Markham commit the crime." "Markham is Jeringham, is he not?" said Tait thoughtfully. "With your permission, Miss Paynton, we will use the real names, not the fictitious. It will help us to understand the matter more clearly."