ere able to make a study of her talk,
they observed that it was controlled by one or two overmastering ideas,
which were evidently the imposition of a superior will. In his
dog-Latin, which he presumed the poor woman could not understand, Mr.
Bangs said to the lawyer: "_Oportet dicere ad Doctorem dehypnotizere
illem feminem._" To this elegant sentence Mr. Coristine briefly
answered, "_Etiam_," but soon afterwards he asked: "Where did you pick
up your Latin, Mr. Bangs."

"I wes at school, you know where, with pore Nesh; _mulier nescit
nomen_. We both took to Letin, because we could talk without being
understood by the common crowd. You find velgar criminals thet know some
French, German, Spenish or Portegese, bet none thet know Letin. In
dealing with higher class criminals we used our own gibberish or
artificial shibboleth."

"A sort of Volapuk?"

"Exectly; pore Nesh was ohfelly clever et it."

"I am going to kill Mr. Nash as soon as I can find him," interrupted the
woman, in an amiable tone of voice, as if she proposed to discharge some
pleasant duty.

The men shuddered, and Mr. Bangs said: "You know, my dear Matilda, what
the Bible says, Thou shelt not kill. You surely would not kemmit the sin
of merder?"

"I am not to mind what the Bible says, or what Steevy says, or what
clergymen or any other people say. I am only to do what he says, and I
must."

"Did he tell you to light thet fire?"

"Not that fire, but the other said it was cold down there."

"Why did he not come up?"

"Because I covered the trap over with the big stones, and Monty helped
me."

"Surely he didn't tell you to dreg the stones on to the trep?"

"Yes, he did, but not then. It was before, when Flower wanted to get up,
and crawl away and tell, because he thought he was going to die."

"Was Flower down there with him?"

"Yes; that's why Monty and I put the big stones on the trap."

"Flower was hert, wesn't he, shot in the beck, I think?"

"Yes; he crawled in all the way on his hands and knees, and I helped his
wife to tie him up, till the doctor came, the morning that I found
Steevy."

"How do you know thet Stephen wes esleep?"

"He told me."

"_Deminus Coristinus, mulier non est responsibilis pro suis ectionibus.
Facit et credit omnia qua mendet enimel mertuus._"

"_Eheu domine!_" replied the lawyer; "_sic est vita dolorosa!_"

Bridesdale was all lit up, and the front door was open to receive the
soaked wayfarers, but no one