"That's true," then Angus burst into laughter, "I wonder if she'll be civil." "Of course. She must have seen in the papers that you have inherited this money, and if you make it worth her while----" "But I can't until I find out who killed my uncle. Only when the true assassin is discovered will I be able to inherit." "Make it worth Mrs. Narby's while and she will assist you," insisted Elspeth. "I am quite sure that the secret of the crime is to be discovered at the 'Marsh Inn.'" "Perhaps Mrs. Narby herself killed my uncle." "Why do you think that?" asked Mrs. Herries, quite startled. "Your father acknowledged that when he went up the stairs after midnight, to empty my pockets while I was lying in that drugged sleep, he heard the swish of a woman's gown in the darkness, going down the stairs. That looks as though Mrs. Narby----" "No," exclaimed Elspeth vehemently, and rising to gesticulate, "I really don't think that Mrs. Narby, bad as she is, would commit such a crime." "She might have done so to get that two thousand pounds, and then have placed the pocket-book in my room to----" "No, no, she would rob, and scold, and do many things, but at heart she is a coward and would never risk her neck." "Well, then, perhaps the woman who went down the stairs was Señora Guzman." "I don't see how she could have got into the inn." "Neither do I," said Herries, scratching his head in perplexity, "and I don't see either why she should have killed my uncle. Say that she wanted this two thousand in order to fit out an expedition to hunt for this Peruvian treasure, my uncle was ready to give it to her, provided she removed Kyles from Maud's path." "Yet Maud accuses her," said Elspeth, equally perplexed. Angus shrugged his shoulders. "Of course. Maud is a jealous rival and would hang Señora Guzman at once if she could manage to do it. It was strange that Señora Guzman was not at the trial to-day." "Why should she have come?" "Well, you see, she told Kind that the crime was--as she verily believed--a political one, and so she might have been present in order to save me, seeing that she must know that I am innocent, and did not know what your father was about to say." "The best thing will be to see her." "I intend to. I'll go along to Pierside to-morrow, and board that yacht. And," added Herries emphatically, "I don't leave it until I learn all she knows." "Do you think Captain Kyles----?" "No. Mrs. Mountford said that he was with Maud at the 'Moated Hall' on the night of the murder. I believe," said Herries, walking up and down the room, "that your father knows more than he will admit. He was sleeping in the tap-room, and anyone who went up the stairs would have to pass through it----" "Oh, no, Angus----" "Well, I don't exactly mean that. But your father--who admits to having been kept awake by the clock--would have heard anyone who went up the stairs. Also, he might have heard anything that went on outside the house."