"Honor is thrown away on women like you," answered Olivia scornfully. "I am glad I listened, for it enables me to protect the man I love against your arts." "That is not the man you love," said Rose spitefully; "he lies in the marshes surrounding the Fen Inn, slain by the hand of his brother." "That is not true! I swear it is not true!" cried Felix, approaching nearer to Olivia. "Be quiet, Francis," she said quickly; "let us hear what she has to say." "I have to say that Felix Briarfield loved me," cried Rose angrily; "he loved me long before he ever saw you, but when you crossed his path, he wanted to leave me. He impersonated his brother Francis, who was at that time in America, and you, poor fool, did not discover the deception." "You are quite right, I did not," replied Olivia calmly; "go on." "When his brother Francis came back this month, he thought all would be discovered, and implored me to save him. He told me of a plan whereby he intended to decoy his brother to the Fen Inn, on pretext of explanation. There he intended to kill him." Olivia made no remark, but placed her hand within that of Felix. I wondered she could do so, seeing that he was accused by his accomplice of a hideous crime, and made no denial. "I went down to the Fen Inn with a man called Strent----" "That was not his real name," I interrupted. "How do you know that?" she said sharply. "Never mind; I know that it is so." "I decline to tell his real name," said Rose, darting a furious look at me. "I call him Strent, and by that name you knew him, and knew me at the Fen Inn." "I certainly did not expect Rose Strent, waiting maid, to change to Rose Gernon, actress." "You are too meddlesome, Mr. Denham," she said coolly, "and would do better to mind your own business." "Scarcely, when I have discovered so vile a crime." "It was he who committed it," said Rose malignantly, pointing to Felix; "he came to the inn and killed his brother." "It is a lie!" cried Felix, in despair. "I laid no hand on my brother. I did not even see him." "Wait one moment, Miss Gernon, before you make this accusation," said Olivia. "You say that Felix is your lover?" "I do." "And you promised to assist him in removing Francis if he married you?" "I did." "For what reason, when the removal of Francis would enable Felix to marry me under his false name?" "He promised not to do so, and I thought if I helped him to kill Francis I could force him to marry me." "You love him greatly?" "I love him better than anyone else in the world." "I am sorry for that," said Olivia, with a touch of pity, "because Felix is dead." "Felix dead!" said Rose incredulously. "Then who is this man?" "This man is my lover, Francis Briarfield, who returned from Chili on the 6th of June." CHAPTER XII. BACK FROM THE GRAVE.