der the name of Berwin--should live
until he died as Vrain. I did not wish to see about the house in my new
character, lest I should be recognised, if there was any trouble over
the assurance money; to complicate matters, I determined to disguise
myself as the real Vrain. Of course, Clear personated Vrain as Lydia had
last seen him, that is, clean-shaven, and neat in his dress. But the
real Vrain, neglecting his personal appearance, had cultivated a long,
white beard, and wore a black velvet skull-cap to conceal a baldness
which had come upon him. I disguised myself in this fashion, therefore,
and went to Pimlico under the name of Wrent."

CHAPTER XXXII

THE CONFESSION (_Continued_)

"In Geneva Square, Pimlico, I found the house I wanted. It was No. 13,
and was said to be haunted, as cries had been heard in it at night, and
lights had been seen flitting from window to window when no one was in
the house. I looked at it without entering, or calling on the landlord,
and then I went into Jersey Street to see the back. The house in the
same section with it was kept by a Mrs. Bensusan, who took in lodgers.
Her rooms were vacant, and as it suited me very well that I should be a
neighbour to Clear, I took the rooms. They proved--as I shall
explain--better for our purpose than I was aware of.

"When I told Ferruci of my discovery, he gave Clear money and made him
hire the house and furnish two rooms for himself. I supplied the money.
In this way Clear, calling himself Berwin, which was the name of Vrain's
house in the country, came to live in Pimlico. We also removed the real
Vrain to Mrs. Clear's at Bayswater, and he passed as her husband. So
weak were his brains, and so cowed was his spirit, that there was no
difficulty in keeping him in the house, and the neighbours were told
merely that Clear was ill.

"For my part, I took up my abode in Jersey Street under the name of
Wrent, and met Clear outside on occasions when it was necessary for me
to see him; but I never entered the house--for obvious reasons.

"I was constantly afraid lest Clear, in his drunken fits--for he was
always more or less drunk--should reveal our secret, and I took as my
bedroom an apartment in Mrs. Bensusan's out of the window of which I
could overlook the back of No. 13. One night, when I was watching, I saw
a dark figure glide into Mrs. Bensusan's yard and climb over the fence,
only to disappear. I was terribly alarmed, and wondering what