that was?"

"Answer me a question and I will reply. Can the entrance of the woods be
seen from the position which she declares herself to have occupied?"

"It can. Not two hours ago I tried the experiment myself, using the same
telescope and kneeling in the same place where she did. I found I could
not only trace the spot where you paused, but could detect quite readily
every movement of my man Hickory, whom I had previously placed there to
go through the motions. I should not have come here if I had not made
myself certain on that point."

Yet the prisoner hesitated.

"I not only made myself sure of that," resumed Mr. Gryce, "but I also
tried if I could see as much with my naked eye from Mrs. Clemmens' side
door. I found I could not, and my sight is very good."

"Enough," said Mansell; "hard as it is to explain, I must believe Miss
Dare was not where I thought her."

"Then you will tell me what you heard?"

"Yes; for in it may lie the key to this mystery, though how, I cannot
see, and doubt if you can. I am all the more ready to do it," he
pursued, "because I can now understand how she came to think me guilty,
and, thinking so, conducted herself as she has done from the beginning
of my trial. All but the fact of her denouncing herself yesterday; that
I cannot comprehend."

"A woman in love can do any thing," quoth Mr. Gryce. Then admonished by
the flush of the prisoner's cheek that he was treading on dangerous
ground, he quickly added: "But she will explain all that herself some
day. Let us hear what you have to tell me."

Craik Mansell drooped his head and his brow became gloomy.

"Sir," said he, "it is unnecessary for me to state that your surmise in
regard to my past convictions is true. If Miss Dare was not with my aunt
just before the murder, I certainly had reasons for thinking she was. To
be sure, I did not see her or hear her voice, but I heard my aunt
address her distinctly and by name."

"You did?" Mr. Gryce's interest in the tattoo he was playing on his knee
became intense.

"Yes. It was just as I pushed the door ajar. The words were these: 'You
think you are going to marry him, Imogene Dare; but I tell you you
_never shall_, not while _I_ live.'"

"Humph!" broke involuntarily from the detective's lips, and, though his
face betrayed nothing of the shock this communication occasioned him,
his fingers stopped an instant in their restless play.

Mr. Mansell saw it and cast him an anxious look.