"Then Gregory came to my hotel on the evening of the twenty-first of June. I did not see him, but I saw Vaud, who entered afterwards, disguised as a black man. I recognised him at once, and asked him why he was dressed up like the servant of Binjoy. He said it was to play a trick on the doctor, who was in the inner room waiting to see him. I believed him, although I thought his behaviour strange. But I know that he had not been quite right in his head since his illness, so that I thought his dressing-up was a freak, and let him pass into the inner room, where I presumed he was about to see Binjoy. I went back to my own room, and never dreamt that the supposed doctor was my son in disguise. Had I known I would not have left the half-crazed Vaud go into him, knowing how he hated my son as the destroyer of Emma. "I know nothing more. I saw Binjoy later on. I asked him if he had seen Vaud; he said no, that he had just come to the hotel. I went into the inner room and found my son dead. I did not know how he died till Binjoy told me about the blood-poisoning. Then I sent for the police, and Mr. Fanks arrived. I saw the grains of gunpowder. I thought they were the evidence of some drug which had destroyed my son. I got rid of them by pulling off the tablecloth. I did not tell the truth or speak out, because I was afraid of being inculpated in the crime. My character was so bad that I knew the police would have no mercy if they thought I was mixed up in the murder. I did not want to disgrace my sister, or let her know my real life, my feigned name. I afterwards went down to Mere Hall and saw Binjoy. I said I would put the rightful heir in his own place, and oust Louis. Binjoy said if I did he would tell my story, and that with his evidence I would be accused of the murder. I therefore held my tongue; I could not bring back my son to life. He had treated me badly, and I did not want to get Vaud into trouble, as I knew that he was mad with grief and rage, and was not responsible for his actions. On the whole I thought it best to hold my tongue, and for the above reasons I did so. "I have now spoken because Edward Hersham, the rightful heir, is accused of the crime. He has suffered enough injustice, and I do not wish to see him hanged. Binjoy can tell his own story of how he came to the hotel on that night and met with Mr. Fanks. Vaud can confess if he will as to how he plotted and carried out the crime. For myself, I have said all I have to say. What is set down here is the truth. I am deeply sorry for my evil ways, but I am paying for my follies with my life; all I ask for is forgiveness and forgetfulness. I have sinned, I am punished. All good Christians pray for the soul of a wicked but deeply wronged woman. (Signed), Madaline Bryant (better known as Louisa Boazoph)." CHAPTER XXXIV. THE SAME. The evidence of Theophilus Binjoy:--