per before him. A lamp was on the
table. Mrs. Barnes was crouching in a chair near the bed. When she
saw Jennings she flung herself down weeping.

"Oh, sir, I knew no more of this than a babe unborn," she wailed, "I
never thought my second was a villing. To think that Thomas--"

"That's all right, Mrs. Barnes, I quite acquit you."

"Not Barnes. Pill I am again, and Mrs. Pill I'll be to the end of my
days. To think Thomas should be a blackguard. Pill drank, I don't
deny, but he didn't forge and coin, and--"

"Wasn't clever enough, perhaps," said Hale from the bed in a weak
voice, "oh, there you are, Jennings. Get that fool out of the room and
listen to what I have to tell you. I haven't much time. I am going
fast."

Jennings induced Mrs. Pill, as she now insisted on being called, to
leave the room. Then he sat down on the bed beside the dying man.
Atkins remained at the door, and the doctor seated himself by Hale's
head with a glass of brandy. It might be needed for the revival of
Hale, who, having lost much blood, was terribly weak. But the poor
wretch was bent upon confession, and even told his story with pride.

"You had a job to take us, Jennings," he said with a weak chuckle. "I
don't know how you found us out though."

"It's too long a story to tell. But, first of all, tell me did
Maraquito come here to-night?"

"No. Are you after her?"

"Yes, I know she isn't an invalid."

"Ah, she diddled you there," said Hale with another chuckle, "a very
clever woman is Maraquito. I wished to marry her, but now I'm done
for. After all, I'm not sorry, since my pals are taken. But I did
think I'd have been able to go to South America and marry Maraquito.
I've made plenty of money by this game. Sometimes we sweated four
hundred sovereigns a day. The factory has been here for five years,
Jennings--"

"I know. The man Maxwell, who was Susan Grant's father, made the
secret entrance, and you had him killed."

"No, I didn't. Miss Loach did that. I thought she was a fool at the
time. I told her so. We could have taken Maxwell as a pal. He was
willing to come. But she thought death was best."

"And Maraquito killed Tyke?"

"No. I did that. I sent Gibber to fix him up. Tyke was a drunkard
and made a fool of himself in being arrested. He would have given the
show away, so I sent Gibber with a poisoned bottle of whisky. I knew
Tyke couldn't resist a drink. He died, and--"

"Did you kill