horn was an assumed name."

"Oh, dear no," returned Afy. "Thorn was his name."

Mr. Carlyle paused and looked at her.

"Afy, I have reason to believe that Thorn was only an assumed name. Now,
I have a motive for wishing to know his real one, and you would very
much oblige me by confiding it to me. What was it?"

"I don't know that he had any other name, sir; I am sure he had no
other," persisted Afy. "He was Lieutenant Thorn, then and he was Captain
Thorn, afterward."

"You have seen him since?"

"Once in a way we have met."

"Where is he now?"

"Now! Oh, my goodness, I don't know anything about him now," muttered
Afy. "I have not heard of him or seen him for a long while. I think I
heard something about his going to India with his regiment."

"What regiment is he in?"

"I'm sure I don't know about that," said Afy. "Is not one regiment the
same as another; they are all in the army, aren't they, sir?"

"Afy, I must find this Captain Thorn. Do you know anything of his
family?"

Afy shook her head. "I don't think he had any. I never heard him mention
as much as a brother or a sister."

"And you persist in saying his name was Thorn?"

"I persist in saying it because it was his name. I am positive it was
his name."

"Afy, shall I tell you why I want to find him; I believe it was he who
murdered your father, not Richard Hare."

Afy's mouth and eyes gradually opened, and her face turned hot and cold
alternately. Then passion mastered her, and she burst forth.

"It's a lie! I beg your pardon, sir, but whoever told you that, told you
a lie. Thorn had no more to do with it than I had; I'll swear it."

"I tell you, Afy, I believe Thorn to have been the man. You were not
present; you cannot know who actually did it."

"Yes, I can, and do know," said Afy, bursting into sobs of hysterical
passion. "Thorn was with me when it happened, so it could not have been
Thorn. It was that wicked Richard Hare. Sir, have I not said that I'll
swear it?"

"Thorn was with you--at the moment of the murder?" repeated Mr. Carlyle.

"Yes, he was," shrieked Afy, nearly beside herself with emotion.
"Whoever has been trying to put it off Richard Hare, and on to him, is a
wicked, false-hearted wretch. It was Richard Hare, and nobody else, and
I hope he'll be hung for it yet."

"You are telling me the truth, Afy?" gravely spoke Mr. Carlyle.

"Truth!" echoed Afy, flinging up her hands. "Would I tell a lie over my
father's death?