!"--Miss Belcher drew back a pace--"is he talking of
me?"

"No, ma'am; generally, or, as you might say, of the sex as a whole.
Mind you, I won't go so far as to deny that the gentleman here--or
the constable, for that matter--had some excuse to be suspicious.
But to think o' me liftin' a hand against poor old Danny Coffin!
Why, ma'am, the times I've a-led him home from the public when
incapable is not to be numbered; and only at this very moment in my
little shop, home in Falmouth, I've a corner cupboard of his under
repair that he wouldn't trust to another living soul! And along
comes you an' say, 'That man's innocent! Look at his face!' you
says, which it's downright womanly instink, if ever there was such a
thing in this world."

"A corner cupboard!" I gasped. "You have the corner cupboard?"

Mr. Goodfellow nodded. "I took it home unbeknowns to the old man.
Many a time he'd spoken to me about repairin' it, the upper hinge
bein' cracked, as you may remember. But when it came to handin' it
over I could never get him. So that afternoon, the coast bein' clear
and him sitting drunk in the Plume o' Feathers, as again you will
remember--"

But here Miss Belcher shot out a hand and gripped my collar to steady
me as I reeled. I dare say that hunger and lack of sleep had much to
do with my giddiness; at any rate, the grassy slope had begun all of
a sudden to heave and whirl at my feet.

"Drat the boy! _He's_ beginning now!"

"Take me home," I implored her, stammering. "Please, Miss Belcher!"

"Now, I'll lay three to one," said Miss Belcher, holding me off and
regarding me, "that no one has thought of giving this child an honest
breakfast. And"--she turned on Mr. Jack Rogers--"you call yourself a
justice of the peace!"

CHAPTER XIV.

HOW I BROKE OUT THE BED ENSIGN.

We were seated in council in the little parlour of Minden Cottage--
Miss Belcher, Miss Plinlimmon, Mr. Jack Rogers, Mr. Goodfellow, and
I. Mr. Goodfellow had been included at Miss Belcher's particular
request. Constable Hosken had been despatched to search the
plantation thoroughly and to report. Two other constables had
arrived, and were coping, in front and rear of the cottage, with a
steady if straggling incursion of visitors from the near villages and
hamlets of St. Germans, Hessenford, Bake, and Catchfrench, drawn by
reports of a second murder to come and stand and gaze at the
premises. The report among them (as I learned afte