r cigar from his case and lighted it before
answering.

"The fact is, I advanced him the money," he said. "Technically it's a
loan, but I do not think any of it will be paid back."

Rolfe stared hard at Crewe to see if he was joking.

"What on earth made you do that?" he demanded at length. "Hill may be the
actual murderer for all we know."

"Not at all," was the reply. "Before I helped him to leave England I
satisfied myself that he had absolutely nothing to do with the murder. He
does not know who shot Sir Horace Fewbanks, though, of course, he still
half believes that it was Birchill. When I got in touch with him after
his disappearance he was in a pitiable state of fright--waking or
sleeping, he couldn't get his mind off the gallows. There were two or
three points on which I wanted his assistance in clearing up the
Riversbrook case, and I promised to get him out of the country if he
would make a clean breast of things and tell me the truth as far as he
knew it. He made a confession--a true one this time. I took it down and
I'll let you have a copy. There are a few interesting points on which it
differs materially from the statement he made to the police when you and
Chippenfield cornered him."

"What are they?" asked Rolfe.

"In the first place the burglary was his idea, and not Birchill's,"
replied Crewe. "After the quarrel between Sir Horace and the girl
Fanning, he went out to her flat and suggested to Birchill that he should
rob Riversbrook. Hill's real object in arranging this burglary was to get
possession of the letters which Mrs. Holymead subsequently removed, but
he did not tell Birchill this. His plan was to go to Riversbrook the
morning after the burglary and then break open Sir Horace's desk and open
the secret drawer before informing the police of the burglary. To the
police and Sir Horace it would look as though the burglar had
accidentally found the spring of the secret drawer. With these letters in
his possession Hill intended to blackmail Sir Horace, or Mrs. Holymead,
without disclosing himself in the transaction.

"When Sir Horace returned unexpectedly from Scotland on the 18th of
August, Hill had just removed the letters from the desk, being afraid
that when Birchill broke into the house he might find them accidentally.
He was naturally in a state of alarm at Sir Horace's return. He tried to
get an opportunity to put the letters back as Sir Horace might discover
they had been removed, but