e o'clock, and saw Clear.
He was celebrating Christmas Eve by drinking heavily, and I was unable
to bring him to reason. I therefore left the stiletto which I had
brought with me on the table, and returned to my house in Jersey Street.
I never saw him alive again. I went to bed and slept all night, so I was
aware of nothing in connection with the death until late on Christmas
Day. Then Mrs. Bensusan was told by Miss Greeb, the landlady of Denzil,
that the tenant of No. 13 had been murdered. I fancied that he had
killed himself in a fit of melancholia, with the stiletto I had left on
his table; but I did not dare to go near the house to find this out.

"Afterwards I learned that the doctor who examined the body was of the
opinion that Clear had been murdered; and, being afraid about the police
taking up the case, I paid Mrs. Bensusan a week's rent and left her
house two days after Christmas. I returned to Berwin Manor, and shortly
afterwards Ferruci joined me there, as he had successfully incarcerated
Vrain in the asylum under the name of Michael Clear.

"When the advertisement came out, it was I who hinted to Lydia that the
dead man--seeing that he was called Berwin--might be her husband. We
went up to town: Lydia identified the body of Clear as her husband in
all innocence--for after death the man looked more like Vrain than ever;
and in due time the assurance money was obtained.

"I do not think there is anything more to tell, save that I did not know
that Mrs. Clear had betrayed me. I could not pay her the money, as I
could not get it from Lydia. I told Lydia I was going to Paris, but in
reality I was hunting for Rhoda, who had run away from Jersey Street. I
fancied she might betray us, and wished to make things safe with her.
Before I found her, however, I saw in the papers that Ferruci had
committed suicide; also that Lydia--who had gone to Dover to meet me,
thinking I was returning from Paris--had been arrested. Then I saw Mrs.
Clear's advertisement saying she would betray me if I did not pay the
money. I consented to meet her in order to implore her silence, and so
fell into the clutches of the law.

"I may state that I did not kill Clear, as I never saw him after nine
o'clock, and then he was alive. In spite of what the doctor said, I am
still inclined to think he killed himself. Now I have made a clean
breast of it--I am willing to be punished; but I hope Lydia will be set
free, for whosoever is guilty, she