"I don't know," replied Mrs. Octagon, sullenly, "Emilia was in some trouble with the law. Her brother and mother were afterwards arrested for coining. She might have been arrested also, but that I agreed to hold my tongue. Emilia pushed Selina off the plank. Then she turned and accused me. As it was known that I was on bad terms with Selina, I might have been accused of the crime, and Emilia would have sworn the rope round my neck. Emilia made me help her to change the dress, and said that as the face of the dead was disfigured, and she was rather like Selina--which she certainly was, she could arrange. I did not know how she intended to blind my father. But my father died unexpectedly. Had he not done so, the deception could not have been kept up. As it was, I went to the inquest, and Emilia as Selina pretended to be ill. I saw after her and we had a strange doctor. Then we went abroad, and she came back to shut herself up in Rose Cottage. I tried to marry Caranby, but Emilia stopped that." "Why did she?" "Because she loved Caranby in her tiger way. That was why she insisted you should marry Juliet. She always threatened to tell that I had killed Selina, though I was innocent." "If you were, why need you have been afraid?" "Circumstances were too strong for me," said Mrs. Octagon, wiping her dry lips and glaring like a demon. "I had to give in. Had I known of that factory I would have spoken out. As it was, I wrote to Caranby when in a fit of rage; but afterwards I was afraid of what I had done, as I thought Emilia would tell." "She certainly would have done so had she not died so opportunely." "Do you mean to say that I killed her? I tell you, Maraquito did so." "What makes you think that?" asked Mallow, delighted at the mistake. "Because she was always fighting with Emilia about you. Maraquito wished to marry you, and Emilia would not let her. After Emilia died, Maraquito saw me, and we arranged to stop the marriage, and--" "I know all about that. I saw you--or rather my uncle saw you--enter Maraquito's Soho house." "I went on Basil's account also," said Mrs. Octagon, sullenly, "however, I have told you all. What do you wish to do?" "I wish to marry Juliet." "Then I refuse," said Mrs. Octagon, savagely. "In that case I'll tell." "You will disgrace Juliet. Besides, the law can't touch me." "I am not so sure of that. You were an accessory after the fact. And if the public knew that you had acquiesced in the death of your sister and had held your tongue for years, you would not be popular. I fear your books would not sell then." Mrs. Octagon saw all this, and glared savagely at Cuthbert. She would have liked to kill him, but he was the stronger of the two, and knew much which she wished kept silent. Mallow saw the impression he was making and went on persuasively. "And think, Mrs. Octagon, Juliet can give you up the six thousand a year--" "Not she," laughed Mrs. Octagon, sneering.