as too good
and kind to be mad. Oh, why did he kill Mr. Glenthorpe? Will they kill
him for that? You are clever, can you not save him? I have come to beg
you to save him. Ever since they took him away I have seen his eyes
wherever I go, looking at me reproachfully, as though calling upon me to
save him. Last night, while I was in my grandmother's room, I thought I
saw him standing there, and heard his voice, just as he used to speak.
And in the night I woke up and thought I heard him whisper, 'Peggy, it
is better to tell the truth.' This morning I could endure it no longer,
and I came across to find you."

"You have known him before, then?"

"Yes." The girl met Colwyn's grave glance with clear, unafraid eyes. "I
did not tell you before, not because I was afraid to trust you, for I
liked you from the first, but I was afraid that if I told you all you
would think him guilty, and not try to help him. And when you spoke to
me on the marshes that day you believed he might be innocent."

"How do you know that?"

"I heard you say so to that police officer--Superintendent
Galloway--after dinner the first night you were at Flegne. I was passing
the bar parlour when you and he were talking about the murder, and I
heard you say that you thought somebody else might have done it. The day
after, when you saw me on the marshes, I was frightened to tell you the
truth, because I thought if you knew it you might go away and not try to
save him."

"You had better tell the whole truth to me now. Nothing you can now say
will make it worse for Penreath, and it may be possible to help him.
When did you first meet him?"

"Nearly three weeks before--it happened. I used to go out for long
walks, when I could get away from grandmother, and this day I walked
nearly as far as Leyland. He came walking along the sands a little while
afterwards, and he looked at me as he passed. Presently he came back
again, and stopped to ask me if there was a shorter way back to
Durrington than by the coast road. I told him I didn't know, and he
stopped to talk to me for a while. He told me he was in Norfolk for a
holiday, and was spending the time in country rambles.

"I will tell you the whole truth. I returned to the headland next day in
the hope that I might see him again. After I had been there a little
while I saw him walking along the sands. He waved his hand when he saw
me, as though we had been old friends, and that afternoon we stayed
talking much