us all you know,
Edgar."

"What I know," said Hamilton, "is very quickly told. Has Miss Heyburn
mentioned the man Krail?"

"Yes, I have told them about him," the girl answered.

"You have, however, perhaps omitted to mention one or two small facts in
connection with the affair," he said. "Do you not remember how, on that
eventful afternoon in the forest, when searching for us, you first
encountered Krail walking with this man Flockart at some distance from
the others?"

"Yes, I recollect."

"And do you remember that when we returned to sit down to luncheon
Flockart insisted that I should take the seat which was afterwards
occupied by the unfortunate Miss Bryant? Do you recollect how I spread a
rug for her at that spot and preferred myself to stand? The reason of
their invitation to me to sit there I did not discover until afterwards.
That wine had been prepared for _me_, not for her."

"For you!" the girl gasped, amazed.

"Yes. The plot was undoubtedly this--"

"There was no plot," protested Flockart, interrupting. "This girl killed
Edna Bryant through intense jealousy."

"I repeat that there was a foul and ingenious plot to kill me, and to
entrap Miss Heyburn," Hamilton said. "It was, of course, clear that Miss
Heyburn was jealous of the girl, for she had written to her mother
making threats against Miss Bryant's life. Therefore, the plot was that
I should drink the fatal wine, and that Miss Gabrielle should be
declared to be the murderess, she having intended the wine to be
partaken of by the girl she hated with such deadly hatred. The marked
cordiality of Krail and Flockart that I should take that seat aroused
within me some misgivings, although I had never dreamed of this
dastardly and cowardly plot against me--not until I saw the result of
their foul handiwork."

"It's a lie! You are trying to implicate Krail and myself! The girl is
the only guilty person. She placed the wine there!"

"She did not!" declared Hamilton boldly. "She was not there when the
bottle was changed by Krail, but I was!"

"If what you say is true, then you deliberately stood by and allowed the
girl to drink."

"I watched Krail go to the spot where luncheon was laid out, but could
not see what he did. If I had done so I should have saved the girl's
life. You were a few yards off, awaiting him; therefore you knew his
intentions, and you are as guilty of that girl's tragic death as he."

"What!" cried Flockart, his eyes glaring