. Morley sighed. "I loved him," she said in low tones. "It took me
many a long day to stamp that love out of my heart. I did all he wished
me to do. I took The Elms and obtained the guardianship of Daisy. I
never thought that he had any design in getting me to take her to live
with us. I was one of her father's oldest friends and loved the girl.
Morley managed the affair in such a manner that I did what he wished
without knowing I was being coerced."

"Morley was a very clever man."

"And a wicked man," said his widow, without emotion. "I can only think
of the way he behaved to me and mine. Daisy always hated him. I could
never get her to like him. I don't know what he said or did to her--he
always seemed to me to treat her with kindness--but she had an antipathy
to him. He thought when she got the Powell money he would do what he
liked with her and it. But when he saw she was hostile to him he
determined then on her murder."

"You did not know that at the time?" said Giles breathlessly.

"No. Certainly I did not, or I should have sent the girl away. I am only
talking by the light of recent events. When that man came to tell Morley
about the death of Powell he knew that Daisy would leave the house and
marry you as soon as she got the fortune. He tried to induce Denham when
he was in the library to kill Daisy, and took down the stiletto for that
purpose. Denham refused. Then there was a man called Dane, who came with
a message. Morley asked him likewise to kill the girl, and was likewise
refused. He saw there was nothing for it but to murder Daisy himself. In
a day or so it would have been too late, as she would hear about the
money and leave the house. Morley took the stiletto and went to the
church in the hope of killing her when she came out and was amidst the
crowd of people. He hoped to escape unobserved."

"A rash idea!" observed Giles.

"Oh, its safety lay in its rashness," said the widow coldly. "Well, it
happened that Denham lured Daisy out of the church and did not follow
for some time. Morley looking at the door saw her come out. She waited
for a moment and then walked to her father's grave. Morley followed and
killed her by stabbing her in the back as she knelt in the snow by the
grave. She fell forward with a cry. He would have repeated the blow but
that he saw Denham coming. He fled back to the house. I was in the
library when he arrived. He made some excuse, and I never thought
anything was wrong."