"It will be better," murmured Durban, uneasily. "You are still keeping something from me, Durban?" "Nothing that is necessary for you to know, missy." Beatrice saw very well that the old servant was fencing, and wondered what it was that he feared. "The necklace?" she said suddenly. "I do not know where it is, missy." "Did you ever see it?" "Once. Colonel Hall showed it to me--a very fine set of diamonds." "Where did Colonel Hall get it?" "I cannot say--somewhere in the West Indies, I think." "You were Colonel Hall's servant in the West Indies, Durban?" "I was, missy." Durban looked at her with fire in his dark eyes. "He was the best of masters, and I loved him. He brought me to this place with him, and here he met with his death." "Do you know who killed him?" "No, missy, I do not." "Why did you take service with Mr. Alpenny?" "I was poor," said Durban, with a shrug, "and my master, the Colonel, was dead. I had no home, and I was thankful to accept the situation. I might not have stayed in it for so long, missy, but that Mr. Alpenny married. It was you who have kept me at The Camp all these years." "And what about Mrs. Hall?" "Nothing, missy. She was a silent lady. I know very little about her." "Durban"--Beatrice looked at him keenly--"are you telling me the truth?" "I am, missy. Why should I tell you a lie? All I know of Mrs. Hall is, that she was the daughter of a West Indian planter, who was my father's master in the time of slavery. I was born on the estate, and afterwards entered the service of Colonel Hall--a captain he was then--to whom I became greatly attached. He saw Mrs. Hall, and fell in love with her. They married, but did not get on well together, for what reason I cannot tell you. They came here to see Mr. Paslow's father, who was an old friend of the Colonel's. Mrs. Hall stopped in London for a time, and then came down for one night with the nurse and her child. My master was murdered, and the necklace disappeared. That is all I know." "But, Durban, Major Ruck says that the Colonel gave the necklace to my mother before his death." "That is not true," cried Durban vehemently, and his eyes blazed. "There was no reason why he should give it to--to--Mrs. Hedge. And I saw the necklace in the Colonel's hands on the very night the crime was committed. Yes, and I saw him place it in the green box beside his bed. Next morning the window was open, the Colonel was lying dead with a cut throat, and the Obi necklace was gone. I can tell you no more, and I don't know why you wish to know all this." "Because," said Beatrice slowly, "it is my belief that the same man with the black patch who murdered Colonel Hall murdered Mr. Alpenny; and in both cases I believe that the murder was committed for the sake of this necklace." "I did not know that Mr. Alpenny had it, missy."