"Why should she?" demanded Lucian bluntly.

"Oh, I'm not blind!" cried Bella, shrilly laughing. "No, indeed. The
Count--a most amiable man--was _very_ attentive to me at one time; and
Lydia--a married woman--I regret to say, did not like him being so. I am
indeed sorry to repeat scandal, Mr. Denzil, but the way in which Mrs.
Vrain behaved towards me and carried on with the Count was not
creditable. I am a gentlewoman, Mr. Denzil, and a churchwoman, and as
such cannot countenance such conduct as his."

"You infer, then, that Mrs. Vrain was in love with the Italian?"

"I shouldn't be at all surprised to hear it," cried Bella again. "But he
did not care for her! Oh, dear, no! It is my belief, Mr. Denzil, that
Mrs. Vrain knows more about the death of her husband than she chooses to
admit. Oh, I've read _all_ the papers; I know _all_ about the death."

"Miss Tyler!" said Lucian, alarmed.

"Bella!" cried Miss Vrain. "I----"

"Oh, I'm not blind, dearest," interrupted Bella, speaking very fast. "I
know you ask me these questions to find out if Lydia killed her husband.
Well, she did!"

"How do you know, Miss Tyler?"

"Because I'm sure of it, Mr. Denzil. Wasn't Mr. Vrain stabbed with a
dagger? Very well, then. There was a dagger hanging in the library of
the Manor, and I saw it there four days before Christmas. When I looked
for it on Christmas Day it was gone."

"Gone! Who took it?"

"Mrs. Vrain!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am!" snapped Miss Tyler. "I didn't see her take it, but it was
there before she went, and it wasn't there on Christmas Day. If Lydia
did not take it, who did?"

"Count Ferruci, perhaps."

"He wasn't there! No!" cried Bella, raising her head, "I'm sure Mrs.
Vrain stole it and killed her husband, and I don't care who hears me say
so!"

Diana and Lucian looked at one another in silence.

CHAPTER XIV

THE HOUSE IN JERSEY STREET

As her listeners made no comment on Miss Tyler's accusation of Mrs.
Vrain, she paused only for a moment to recover her breath, and was off
again in full cry with a budget of ancient gossip drawn from a very
retentive memory.

"Of the way in which Lydia treated her poor dear husband I know little,"
cried the fair Bella. "Only this, that she drove him out of the house by
her scandalous conduct. Yes, indeed; although you may not believe me,
Di. You were away in Australia at the time, but I kept a watch on Lydia
in your interest, dear, and our housemaid hea