"If this is so," said Geoffrey, slowly, "and I see no reason to disbelieve it, why did Mrs. Jenner tell Neil that she had killed his father?" "I asked her that, and her answer was that she was afraid, if Neil reopened the case, some evidence might be brought forward to prove that she had really committed the murder. She had told her son that she was innocent, and she did not wish him to learn the truth. It was only on my giving a promise not to tell him that she consented to make the confession. She wants him to think of her only as a mother who loved him--not as a murderess." "Humph!" remarked Geoffrey, doubtfully. "A queer way of shewing her love, to put it into the head of an imaginative neurotic creature like Neil that he himself was guilty!" "It will not do him any harm," said Mr. Cass. "I don't pretend to say that I approve of her clearing her own name at the expense of Neil's peace of mind: but it is not for us to judge, and before she died she repented of having made that statement." "Did she know how the red pocket-book was stolen?" asked Geoffrey, abruptly. "No; she had been so busy struggling with Jenner for possession of the child, she said, that she took no notice of anyone at the window. That was why Jerry, as you say, was able to put his hand in and take the book. It was lucky for the clearing-up of the case that Jenner had sewn the bill inside the toy horse. If Roper had got hold of it, he would have made it hot for Marshall. He hates him like poison on account of----" "I have heard enough of that story," interrupted Mrs. Marshall, "and you seem to forget, Sebastian, that if the bill had really been in the pocket-book I should have got it through Job. I am tired of it all. I hope it is all ended for ever." "Yes, Inez. You will hear no more about it. In a few days Mrs. Jenner and her story will be buried, and we will all try and forget the past. Neil must never know." "I shall not tell him." "Nor I," said Mrs. Marshall, with, for her, remarkable generosity. "No one knows the truth but ourselves, and we will keep silence. What about those poor wretches who have been burnt?" "Well, Geoffrey must tell how Jerry Hutt came to see him, and in some way we must prove the remains to be his. After all, the corpse--what is left of it--may not be Jerry!" "I think it is," said Heron. "Indeed, I am certain of it. I expect he and Job got quarrelling about the bill, and Job set fire to the house in order to burn them both. Jerry did not burn willingly, I am sure of that. Job no doubt detained him in the burning house until it was too late." Mrs. Marshall shuddered. Job, indeed, was wicked, as well she knew. But now she was relieved from his blackmailing, and had only her husband to deal with. And she resolved--now that she was in possession of the bill--to make short work of him. Her thoughts still seemed inclined to separation and the Romish Church.