t my mother, but I loved her like one, and you
killed her."

CHAPTER XV

James sat as if turned to stone. All in a second he realized what it
must be. He let Clemency's hand go, and leaned back in his chair. "What
do you mean, Clemency?" he asked finally, but he realized how senseless
the question was. He knew perfectly well what she meant, and he knew
perfectly well that he was utterly helpless before her accusation.

"You know," said Clemency, still in her unnatural hard voice. "You
killed her."

"How?"

"You know. You gave her more morphine, and her heart was weak. Emma
overheard Uncle Tom say so, and that more morphine was dangerous. She
might have been alive to-day if it had not been for you."

James sat staring at the girl. She went on pitilessly. "You did not see
Emma that last time you came upstairs," she said, "but she saw you. She
was standing in the door of her room, and she had no light. She saw you
and Mrs. Blair going away from her room, and she heard Mrs. Blair tell
you she was dead. You killed her. I want nothing whatever to do with a
murderer."

James remembered that draught of cold air. It must have come from the
open door of Emma's room at the end of the hall. He understood that Emma
could not have seen him coming upstairs, but that she had seen him with
Mrs. Blair at the door of the sick-room, and had jumped at her
conclusion.

"Emma knew when you went upstairs first," said Clemency. "You left her
door a little ajar. Emma saw you giving her a hypodermic. And then when
that did not kill her you gave her another. Uncle Tom did not know. He
must never know, for it would kill him, but you did kill her."

James was silent for a moment. He realized the impossibility of clearing
himself from the accusation unless he told the whole truth and
implicated Doctor Gordon. Finally he said, miserably enough, "You don't
know how horribly she was suffering, dear. You don't know what torments
she would have had to suffer."

He knew when he said that that he incriminated himself. Clemency
retorted immediately, "You don't know. I have heard Uncle Tom say that
nobody can ever know. She might have gotten well. Anyway, you killed
her." With that Clemency sprang up and ran out of the room, and James
heard her sob.

As for himself, he remained where he was for a long time. He never knew
how long. He felt numb. He realized himself to be in a gulf of
misunderstanding, from which he could not be extricate