's arrest.

Long before the afternoon party had dispersed the reason for the hurried
adjournment from the marsh back to the house had become known--first
among the guests, from whom there was no longer any necessity to keep
secret what was bound to be noised abroad in an hour or two, and then
among the members of the domestic staff, to whom the news spread like
wildfire.

The earliest intelligence had been quickly supplemented by further
details of description and identification which left no doubt in the
mind of Louise that the dead man was the hero of her three weeks'
flirtation. Equally sure was she that he had come by his death at the
hands of that older lover, the Breton peasant and sailor who had adored
her in her native village long before she had dreamed of becoming _femme
de chambre_ to the daughter of an English millionaire.

Yes, she told herself, assuredly Pierre Legros, the French huckster of
onions, had killed her latest admirer out of insensate jealousy, and he
should suffer for it if there was any power in a woman's tongue. Mr.
Levison had held out glittering prospects, which it was galling to have
destroyed by a persistent boor such as Pierre. Travers Nugent's human
tool had described himself as "a financial agent"--a phrase which to the
French girl's ears sounded the brazen tocsin of untold wealth, and which
she could not know covered as many iniquities as that other
comprehensive term--"a resting actress." Pierre Legros must certainly
pay the penalty for shattering her dreams of riches and luxury, and to
secure that laudable vengeance she started for Ottermouth as soon as she
had dressed her young mistress for dinner.

The path skirting the marshes was her nearest way, but she dared not
pass the spot where the crime had been committed, and where there would
probably be a crowd of sightseers attracted to the scene. She chose the
longer route along the high road, and by the time she had walked a mile
between the leafy hedgerows she began to ask herself questions.

Coming of thrifty French parents, her first was: What was she to gain by
making the disclosure and putting a noose round the neck of Pierre?
Nothing at all, and, on the other hand, there was the chance that she
might lose a situation in which she was extremely comfortable. Miss
Sarah Dymmock, who was her virtual if not nominal mistress, would not be
likely to tolerate lightly the scandal which she would bring upon Mr.
Maynard's establishm