Scarcely had she got this far, when they heard the shrill scream of a woman in the tap-room. Herries sprang from his chair, and opened the door hurriedly. When he and Señora Guzman walked hastily into the tap-room, they found Maud Tedder in the grasp of Armour the policeman, who was in plain clothes. Herries flung himself forward, and threw the bulky man to one side. "How dare you touch a lady?" he said, indignantly. "A lady," said Armour, who had evidently been drinking, "if she's a lady, let her pay me for having lost my position in the Force through her visit." "Don't listen to him,--don't listen to him," whispered Maud, pale and trembling and clinging to Herries. "I've been dismissed the Force," complained Armour in a maundering tone, "and all on account of that there blamed murder. And she," he pointed a stumpy finger at Miss Tedder, "she knows summat about it, she does." "It's a lie," gasped Maud, shaking from head to foot, while the eyes of Señora Guzman lighted up and she took an eager step forward. "Oh," raved the ex-policeman, while Alice lost her head and flew out of doors shouting for help, "is it a lie that she," he pointed again towards Maud, "that she came to my house, when I was on my rounds and made my wife betray me? On the very night of the murder, she was at my house, and----" "I came to see my old nurse," gasped Maud. "Then what were you doing wandering about Desleigh at midnight. I got it out of my missus, I did. And you put them sailors on to me. "No! No!" "You did. And I believe," cried Armour, "that you murdered your father your very own self." CHAPTER XXIII AN EXPLANATION Maud uttered a squeak like that of a trapped rabbit, and clung to her cousin in a half-fainting condition. The startling accusation of the ex-policeman came upon Herries with the force of a bludgeon, and his flesh crept as he felt Maud's terrified grasp. What if she were guilty after all,--what if she had,--but the thought was too horrible. Bad as the girl was in many ways, vain, frivolous, cruel, selfish, she would never have killed the father who had loved her so greatly. As it was, she vehemently denied the accusation. "It's a he,--a lie," she murmured, trying to keep from fainting, "oh, how dare you, how----" here nature would have her way, and Maud sank unconscious on the ground. Armour continued his vociferations, so Herries gave the insensible girl to Señora Guzman, who received her with reluctance, and caught Armour by the collar. "Do you know what you are saying?" he demanded, shaking the man in a fierce way. "How dare you accuse this young lady of----" "Well, if she didn't do it, who killed him?" asked the man in a sullen tone and beginning to see that he had gone too far. "It wasn't that Herries chap." "I am Herries!" "You." Armour shook off the grasp and recoiled against the wall.