Lister was in a white heat with rage, and stood fumbling at the door. But a backward glance at her pale face cooled him somewhat. He recognised that he was in the presence of some mystery, and that it was necessary for his own peace of mind, as for Bella's, to probe the mystery to the bottom. On the impulse of the moment he walked back, and lifting her, placed her again in the arm-chair. Then he knelt beside her, and took her hands. "Darling," he said, softly and firmly, "I swear to you, what I would not swear to any living creature, that I am innocent. If anyone but you had accused me, I should have----" "Cyril! Cyril!" She wreathed her arms round his neck, "I only fancied, but I really did not think that----" He removed her arms. "You should believe in my innocence in the face of all evidence," he said sternly. "But my own eyes," she faltered. He frowned. "That certainly is puzzling; still, the drug----" "I saw you enter the house before I drunk the tea," she protested. "I told you that before." "Your senses were quite clear?" "Perfectly clear. And I thought that you had come to try and induce my father to consent to our marriage." "Strange," muttered the young man. "I was not near the house." "Are you sure? are you sure?" "Oh!" Lister's tone was highly exasperated. "You will drive me mad, talking in this way. Hearken," he added, speaking calmer, "when I left you and Captain Huxham in the corn-field, I went straight back to my lodgings. There I found a letter referring to the thousand pounds I wished to borrow. I had to see the friend who was willing to lend it to me on that night. I therefore went to London by the six o'clock train. My landlady can prove that I left the house; the flyman can prove that I drove to the local station; the ticket office there that I bought a ticket, and the guard of the train shut me himself in a first-class compartment. That is evidence enough, I fancy." "Yes. Yes, for me, but----" "But I might have sneaked back, I suppose you mean?" he said bitterly, and rising to walk the floor. "I can prove an _alibi_ easily. At eight o'clock I was at my friend's rooms in Duke Street, St. James's, as his man can swear. He had gone to Paris, and I arranged to follow. I went to the theatre, and to dinner with two friends of mine, and did not leave them until one in the morning, when I returned to my hotel. The murder took place at eleven, or between eight and eleven, so I can easily prove that I was not here. Next morning I went to Paris, and got the money from my friend. I lingered there with him, and only returned yesterday, to learn that your father was dead. Then I came down here this morning to--meet with this reception." "Cyril! Cyril! Don't be hard on me." "Are you not hard yourself?" he retorted. "How can I love a woman who doubts me? Besides, robbery was the motive for the commission of the crime. Am I likely to stab an old man, and then rob him?" "No, I never believed, and yet----"