For quite two minutes Gebb sat in silence, looking at his chief in blended wonder and amazement Try as he might he could not guess how the fat man had come by this knowledge. What he, with the use of his limbs, and the power of the law, had failed to discover, this invalid--as he might be called--had found out without moving from his armchair. In a darker age Gebb might have judged Parge to be gifted with necromantic power, or divination by second sight. "Are you certain of this?" he asked in a hesitating voice. "Quite certain!" cried Parge, furiously. "Quite certain. I'm not a fool." "But how did you find out?" "By exercising my memory and joining the past with the present." "In what way?" asked Gebb, still perplexed "What clue had you?" "The clue of the Yellow Boudoir." "The Yellow Boudoir!" repeated Gebb, recalling his own fancy. "Yes!" said Parge, gravely "Twenty years ago, in a room furnished in the same fashion, in a room under the roof of Kirkstone Hall, there was a murder committed. In this book," Parge here laid his hand on the large volume, "there is a full account of the trial of one, Marmaduke Dean, for the murder of John Kirkstone; and the crime was committed in the Yellow Boudoir." "But what has a crime committed twenty years ago to do with the assassination of Miss Lig--I mean, of Miss Gilmar?" "Everything. Miss Gilmar only reaped as she sowed. You must hear the story in full before you can see the connection. But to put the matter briefly, you must understand that Dean was convicted of killing Kirkstone and was sentenced to death. Afterwards, as there was some doubt about the absolute justice of the verdict, the death sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. Dean swore that he was innocent, and that the accomplishment of the crime had been brought about by the machinations of Ellen Gilmar. He swore, if his life were spared, to escape from prison and kill the woman who had placed him by her craft and cruelty in the dock. About four years ago the man did escape from Dartmoor Prison; and it was dread lest he should keep his word which drove Miss Gilmar from lodging to lodging, under different names. For some reason--best known to herself--she chose to dwell in a room, furnished and draped similar to that in which the first crime had been committed. It was reading the description of that room which put me on the right track. "And you believe that Miss Ligram and Miss Gilmar are one and the same person?" asked Gebb, breathlessly. "I am certain of it, on the authority of the Yellow Boudoir." "And you think that Dean murdered her?" "Yes; I believe that Dean kept his word." "But what was his reason?" "Vengeance!" said Parge, opening the red book. "Listen! I will tell you the case after my own fashion, and you shall learn the reason why Miss Ligram was strangled at Grangebury." CHAPTER VI THE CRIME OF KIRKSTONE HALL