"Ah!" said the woman, coldly. "I see you employed your time with Mrs. Prisom to good purpose. Well, you can understand that I hate Sir Louis, and I would gladly see Francis Garth sit in his place?" "And for this purpose you have concocted a story against Sir Louis." "I have concocted no story. I tell the truth. Sir Louis and Dr. Binjoy went up to London on the night of the murder; although they now pretend that the one was ill, and the other attended him. They sent me out of the house on that night; but I suspected, I watched, I discovered. Do you know why the pair went up to London?" she continued, grasping Fanks by the arm. "To kill Sir Gregory. Do you know why they killed Sir Gregory? To get money for their scientific experiments. Do you know how they killed Sir Gregory? Ask them about the poisoned needle. Yes. They made use of their scientific knowledge to slay the man whose money they wanted." "Who put the advertisement in the paper?" "Ask Mrs. Boazoph, she knows." "Does she?" said Fanks, disgusted with her malignity, "and perhaps you know about the tattooed cross?" "No, I don't know about the tattooed cross," said Mrs. Jerusalem, "but I daresay Madaline Garry can tell you." "Madaline Garry? Do you know her? Is she still alive?" "I know her, she is still alive. See Sir Louis, Mr. Fanks," said the woman, stretching out her lean hand, "tear the mask off the lying face of Dr. Binjoy who loved Madaline Garry and ask him where she lives; and what evil he has worked with her aid?" More Fanks would have asked, but with a sudden movement she eluded his detaining hand, and before he could recover from his astonishment she was far down the road to the village, gliding like an evil shadow into the sunny distance. Fanks thought of following her, but on second thoughts he pursued his journey to the Hall. "Sir Louis and Binjoy first," he muttered, "afterwards Mrs. Jerusalem and Madaline Garry." Despite his belief in the evidence of Mrs. Jerusalem, which was obviously dictated by a malignant spirit, he caught himself wondering if she was really right, and if, after all, Sir Louis was guilty. But the moment afterwards he rejected this idea, as it was incredible that Sir Louis would commit a crime and then offer a reward for the detection of the assassin. Still Fanks admitted to himself that if Sir Louis was not frank, he would find it difficult to come to a decision touching his innocence or guilt.