found out afterwards to be the butler.

She had been bending over the body, with her handkerchief to her eyes,
and now she turned upon me with the face of a fury. Oh, what an actress
that woman was!

"Yes, yes, it is the very man," she cried. "Oh, you villain, you cruel
villain, to treat an old man so!"

There was a man there who seemed to be a village constable. He laid his
hand upon my shoulder.

"What do you say to that?" said he.

"It was she who did it," I cried, pointing at the woman, whose eyes
never flinched before mine.

"Come! come! Try another!" said the constable, and one of the
men-servants struck at me with his fist.

"I tell you that I saw her do it. She stabbed him twice with a knife.
She first helped me to rob him, and then she murdered him."

The footman tried to strike me again, but she held up her hand.

"Do not hurt him," said she. "I think that his punishment may safely be
left to the law."

"I'll see to that, your Ladyship," said the constable. "Your Ladyship
actually saw the crime committed, did you not?"

"Yes, yes, I saw it with my own eyes. It was horrible. We heard the
noise and we came down. My poor husband was in front. The man had one of
the cases open, and was filling a black leather bag which he held in his
hand. He rushed past us, and my husband seized him. There was a
struggle, and he stabbed him twice. There you can see the blood upon his
hands. If I am not mistaken, his knife is still in Lord Mannering's
body."

"Look at the blood upon her hands!" I cried.

"She has been holding up his Lordship's head, you lying rascal," said
the butler.

"And here's the very sack her Ladyship spoke of," said the constable, as
a groom came in with the one which I had dropped in my flight. "And here
are the medals inside it. That's good enough for me. We will keep him
safe here to-night, and to-morrow the inspector and I can take him into
Salisbury."

"Poor creature," said the woman. "For my own part, I forgive him any
injury which he has done me. Who knows what temptation may have driven
him to crime? His conscience and the law will give him punishment enough
without any reproach of mine rendering it more bitter."

I could not answer--I tell you, sir, I could not answer, so taken aback
was I by the assurance of the woman. And so, seeming by my silence to
agree to all that she had said, I was dragged away by the butler and the
constable into the cellar, in which they locked me fo