at she lived? Only one fact within his own
direct knowledge afforded the least ground for such a supposition.
It was that, possessed by a woman only in the humble and unprotected
station of a lady's hired companion, his sister's beauty might scarcely
have been sufficient to induce a selfish man like Manston to make her
his wife, unless he had foreseen the possibility of getting rid of her
again.

'But for that stratagem of Manston's in relation to the Springroves,'
Owen thought, 'Cythie might now have been the happy wife of Edward.
True, that he influenced Miss Aldclyffe only rests on Edward's
suspicions, but the grounds are good--the probability is strong.'

He went indoors and questioned Cytherea.

'On the night of the fire, who first said that Mrs. Manston was burnt?'
he asked.

'I don't know who started the report.'

'Was it Manston?'

'It was certainly not he. All doubt on the subject was removed before he
came to the spot--that I am certain of. Everybody knew that she did not
escape _after_ the house was on fire, and thus all overlooked the fact
that she might have left before--of course that would have seemed such
an improbable thing for anybody to do.'

'Yes, until the porter's story of her irritation and doubt as to her
course made it natural.'

'What settled the matter at the inquest,' said Cytherea, 'was Mr.
Manston's evidence that the watch was his wife's.'

'He was sure of that, wasn't he?'

'I believe he said he was certain of it.'

'It might have been hers--left behind in her perturbation, as they say
it was--impossible as that seems at first sight. Yes--on the whole, he
might have believed in her death.'

'I know by several proofs that then, and at least for some time after,
he had no other thought than that she was dead. I now think that before
the porter's confession he knew something about her--though not that she
lived.'

'Why do you?'

'From what he said to me on the evening of the wedding-day, when I had
fastened myself in the room at the hotel, after Edward's visit. He must
have suspected that I knew something, for he was irritated, and in a
passion of uneasy doubt. He said, "You don't suppose my first wife is
come to light again, madam, surely?" Directly he had let the remark slip
out, he seemed anxious to withdraw it.'

'That's odd,' said Owen.

'I thought it very odd.'

'Still we must remember he might only have hit upon the thought by
accident, in doubt as to your motiv