" and he
cast Davies from him, and as he did so, struck him heavily across the
face with the back of his hand.

The man took no notice either of his words or of the deadly insult of
the blow.

"Is it true?" he screamed, "is it true that she is dead?"

"Yes," said Geoffrey, following him, and bending his tall square frame
over him, for Davies had fallen against the wall, "yes, it is true--she
is dead--and beyond your reach for ever. Pray to God that you may not
one day be called her murderers, all of you--you shameless cowards."

Owen Davies gave one shrill cry and sank in a huddled heap upon the
ground.

"There is no God," he moaned; "God promised her to me, to be my own--you
have killed her; you--you seduced her first and then you killed her. I
believe you killed her. Oh, I shall go mad!"

"Mad or sane," said Geoffrey, "say those words once more and I will
stamp the life out of you where you are. You say that God promised her
to you--promised that woman to a hound like you. Ah, be careful!"

Owen Davies made no answer. Crouched there upon the ground he rocked
himself to and fro, and moaned in the madness of his baulked desire.

"This man," said Geoffrey, turning towards and pointing to Elizabeth,
who was glaring at him like a wild cat from the corner of the room,
"said that there is no God. I say that there is a God, and that one day,
soon or late, vengeance will find you out--you murderess, you writer
of anonymous letters; you who, to advance your own wicked ends whatever
they may be, were not ashamed to try to drag your innocent sister's name
into the dirt. I never believed in a hell till now, but there must be
a hell for such as you, Elizabeth Granger. Go your ways; live out your
time; but live every hour of it in terror of the vengeance that shall
come so surely as you shall die.

"Now for you, sir," he went on, addressing the trembling father. "I do
not blame you so much, because I believe that this viper poisoned your
mind. You might have thought that the tale was true. It is not true; it
was a lie. Beatrice, who now is dead, came into my room in her sleep,
and was carried from it as she came. And you, her father, allowed this
villain and your daughter to use her distress against her; you allowed
him to make a lever of it, with which to force her into a marriage that
she loathed. Yes, cover up your face--you may well do so. Do your worst,
one and all of you, but remember that this time you have to deal