"But it can't be true," cried Stephen looking white and worried, "good heaven's Jim, if Sidney really shot Carr, think of the disgrace to Ida and Bess. Ourselves! I don't mind that. But these poor girls." "Well," said Jim after a pause, "you see it's not so bad as it might be. I am sure you must know of the estimation Sidney is held in, round about Saxham. If it comes out that he shot the Colonel, no one will express any surprise. It's no slur on the girls, Steve. Sidney is looked upon as something beyond the pale of humanity." "What will they do with him?" asked Stephen anxiously. "If he really did commit the crime, he will be placed in an asylum. The boy is too queer to be judged by ordinary standards. Frisco cleared out although he knew Sidney had killed Carr, because he thought no one would believe the boy had done it. The suspicion certainly would have rested on Frisco. He would have been wiser to have given himself up. But for the reasons I told you of--the same reasons that kept him quiet under the Colonel's unjust appropriation of his property---Frisco preferred to cut. He is wiser, now that he has had time to reflect over the matter. His devilries in the Americas were done under other names, and as Joyce he will not be wanted in San Francisco. I daresay if he had not been caught he would have given himself up in the long run. It was the Don he was afraid of. Now the Don is away, Frisco is convinced he will be set free." "He must stand his trial?" "Certainly. I have told Frith to see after him. But his defence will be that Sidney killed the man. There is no way of averting that. The question in my mind," said Herrick looking at Marsh-Carr "is, whether the boy really did do so." "Have you any doubt on the subject?" asked Stephen eagerly. "I have a great many doubts," replied Jim dryly, "and until the person who really murdered Carr confesses, I shall continue to doubt. You see Steve, ever since I took up this matter I have been following up false trails. Every person I have stumbled upon, and to whose guilt the evidence at the time procurable, pointed, has laid the blame on some one else, who in turn has passed on the guilt to another party. I suspected Joyce. He accused Santiago. The Don said Pentland Corn was guilty. Corn declared that Mrs. Marsh had fired the shot. Now we know from accurate evidence that all these persons are innocent. Frisco was suspected from the very first. He is caught and swears--truly enough according to his own belief, that the boy murdered the Colonel. How do I know but what Sidney may be able to prove his innocence, and accuse someone else. The chain may go on endlessly so far as I can see." "I understand the difficulty," replied Stephen wearily, "but I cannot for the life of me see why Sidney should kill the man."