rtenay, for whom you had
feigned such friendship, and for weeks you urged her to kill him
secretly until, in the frenzy of insanity to which you had brought
her, she carried out your design with all that careful ingenuity that
is so often characteristic of madness."

"You lie, woman!" the old man snapped. "I had nothing whatever to do
with the affair! I was at home at Hove on that night."

"No! no! you were not," interrupted Jevons. "Your memory requires
refreshing. Reflect a moment, and you'll find that you arrived at
Brighton Station at seven o'clock next morning from Victoria. You
spent the night in London; and further, you were recognised by a
police inspector walking along the Chiswick Road as early as half-past
three. I have not been idle, Sir Bernard, and have spent a good deal
of time at Hove of late."

"What do you allege, then?" he cried in fierce anger, a dark, evil
expression on his pale, drawn face. "I suppose you'll declare that
I'm a murderer next!"

"I allege that, at your instigation, a serious and desperate attempt
was made, a short time ago, upon the life of my friend Boyd by
ruffians who were well paid by you."

"Another lie!" he blurted forth defiantly.

"What?" I cried. "Is that the truth, Ambler? Was I entrapped at the
instigation of this man?"

"Yes. He had reasons for getting rid of you--as you will discern
later."

"I tell you it's an untruth!" shouted the old man, in a frenzy of
rage.

"Deny it if you will," answered my friend, with a nonchalant air. "It,
however, may be interesting to you to know that the man 'Lanky Lane,'
one of the desperate gang whom you bribed to call up Boyd on the night
in question, is what is known at Scotland Yard as a policeman's
'nose,' or informer; and that he made a plain statement of the whole
affair before he fell a victim to your carefully-laid plan by which
his lips were sealed."

In an instant I recollected that the costermonger of the London Road
was one of the ruffians.

The old man's lips compressed. He saw that he was cornered.

The revelation that to his clever cunning was due the many remarkable
features of the mystery held me utterly bewildered. At first it seemed
impossible; but as the discussion grew more heated, and the facts
poured forth from the mouth of the woman I loved, and from the man
who was my best friend, I became convinced that at last the whole of
the mysterious affair would be elucidated.

One point, however, still pu