"On the contrary, the person threw himself in my way within half-an-hour after I was on my way to the Turnpike House." "Wait a moment!" cried Mr. Cass, with suppressed excitement. "I know who it was--the gypsy, Job." "Ah!" replied Mrs. Marshall, without betraying much surprise. "Ruth told you something!" "Geoffrey did: Ruth had told him." Mrs. Marshall rose with a bound. "And pray what has Mr. Heron to do with this matter?" "A good deal," rejoined her brother, drily. "You may as well sit down, Inez. Geoffrey is perfectly discreet. He is going to marry Ruth, you know: it will be as much to his interest as mine to keep this affair secret. Well, so you met this gypsy blackguard?" "Yes, half-way on the road to the Turnpike House. In spite of the darkness and the mist, he knew me in a moment--instinct, I suppose." "How could he have met you? Had you met him before?" "Lots of times. I knew the Romany dialect, and used to talk to Job." "I realty wonder at you, Inez, taking up with such scum! As for Ruth, I'll talk to her! She shall have nothing more to do with him." "Oh, as to that," remarked his sister, shrugging her shoulders, "the creature is dying; he is consumptive, and is drinking himself to death. I have placed him in the Turnpike House--without Mr. Heron's permission, by the way--and I allow him a small sum a week so that he may die in peace." "So that you may keep your secret, you mean." "It will soon be a secret no longer. Job, as I say, knew me. He told me that he had been sleeping behind the hedge--near me, I suppose--and had been aroused by the sound of voices. He recognised Frank's voice, for he had often spoken to him; but Jenner he did not know, any more than I did." "Naturally. Jenner was a comparative stranger in these parts. Go on." "Well, Job had heard all about, the red pocket-book and the bill. I saw in a twinkling that here was the instrument I required; I promised him twenty pounds if he would get me that red pocket-book." "Inez! Did you send the man to murder Jenner?" "No, I did not. I never thought he would goo so far as that. And, as a matter of fact. Job has always denied to me that he struck the blow." "He certainly would tell you that to save his neck!" "Well, after I had made this arrangement with him and had told him that Jenner was at the Turnpike House, I returned home. I entered by the side door and slipped up to my room without anyone being the wiser." "I certainly was not," said her brother. "You are quite a diplomatist, Inez. What about Job's murdering mission?" "He did not commit the murder," insisted Mrs. Marshall. "He came next day and brought me the pocket-book. I opened it, but could not find the bill; then I accused Job of having taken it. He grinned, but would say nothing. You understand, Sebastian, he had not got the bill; but he wanted to have me in his power." "I see; but you could have turned the tables on him by having him arrested for the crime."