ay have you deceived me?" she asked.

"In the way that was forced on us by our own conduct," Mrs. Delvin said.
"We have appeared to help you, without really doing so; we calculated on
inducing you to marry my brother, and then (when he could speak with
the authority of a husband) on prevailing on you to give up all further
inquiries. When you insisted on seeing Mrs. Rook, Miles had the money in
his hand to bribe her and her husband to leave England."

"Oh, Mrs. Delvin!"

"I don't attempt to excuse myself. I don't expect you to consider how
sorely I was tempted to secure the happiness of my brother's life,
by marriage with such a woman as yourself. I don't remind you that I
knew--when I put obstacles in your way--that you were blindly devoting
yourself to the discovery of an innocent man."

Emily heard her with angry surprise. "Innocent?" she repeated. "Mrs.
Rook recognized his voice the instant she heard him speak."

Impenetrable to interruption, Mrs. Delvin went on. "But what I do ask,"
she persisted, "even after our short acquaintance, is this. Do you
suspect me of deliberately scheming to make you the wife of a murderer?"

Emily had never viewed the serious question between them in this light.
Warmly, generously, she answered the appeal that had been made to her.
"Oh, don't think that of me! I know I spoke thoughtlessly and cruelly to
you, just now--"

"You spoke impulsively," Mrs. Delvin interposed; "that was all. My one
desire before we part--how can I expect you to remain here, after what
has happened?--is to tell you the truth. I have no interested object in
view; for all hope of your marriage with my brother is now at an end.
May I ask if you have heard that he and your father were strangers, when
they met at the inn?"

"Yes; I know that."

"If there had been any conversation between them, when they retired
to rest, they might have mentioned their names. But your father was
preoccupied; and my brother, after a long day's walk, was so tired that
he fell asleep as soon as his head was on the pillow. He only woke when
the morning dawned. What he saw when he looked toward the opposite bed
might have struck with terror the boldest man that ever lived. His first
impulse was naturally to alarm the house. When he got on his feet, he
saw his own razor--a blood-stained razor on the bed by the side of the
corpse. At that discovery, he lost all control over himself. In a panic
of terror, he snatched up his knapsac