"A burglar--a burglar cried Mrs. Baldwin. I've killed him." Then she threw up her hands wildly. "Out of my life at last--out of my life!" The next moment she was lying senseless by the side of the husband she had shot. CHAPTER XXII THE WIND-UP So this was the end of the case which so perplexed London and London's police. But neither the police nor the public came to know the truth, as will appear from a conversation held between Laura and her lover a fortnight after the death of Jasher. As they were to be married, and there were to be no secrets between them, Arnold told her the whole truth, suppressing nothing. Laura wept. "O Arnold, how terrible it is for Julia! What will she do?" "She has already made up her mind what to do, and I think she has taken the wisest course." "What is that?" "She will marry Walter Fane quietly and go abroad for a time. Then no one will ever know the truth." "But it might come out in other ways." "No. I have taken care of that. Derrick, as you know, gave up the case some weeks ago, as he could discover nothing. The only thing he is doing now is watching the Hampstead house for the return of the dead woman's husband. Of course your brother-in-law will never return there, and so Derrick will grow weary." "But did not Jasher confess when he died?" "Only to me and Tracey, dear. When Mrs. Baldwin shot him under the impression that he was a burglar, he did not die immediately. He was taken to the hospital, but died a few days later. In the interval he sent for me and Tracey, and knowing everything was ended for him, he confessed." "Did he exonerate the professor?" "Arnold did not reply immediately to the question. He was thinking what he should say. Finally he resolved to tell the truth. "The best thing, Laura, is to say what Jasher told us. We wrote it down, and he signed it in our presence lest any one else should be accused of the crime. I don't think any one will be, as the murder has been relegated to obscurity. Still, it is best to be on the safe side. I have the confession here. I will read it to you." Laura assenting eagerly, Arnold took a sheet or two of foolscap from his pocket and read the confession. It ran as follows:-- "I, Rufus Baldwin, better known as John Jasher, Private Inquiry-Agent, swear as follows, and take my dying oath that what is here set down is true.