There was an absolute silence for a few moments. What with one and another, Morgan's brain was reeling. Gerald could only stare in blank at the negro, who declared so that Mrs. Berch was guilty of a cowardly murder. As for the accused woman, she put aside her weeping daughter gently and faced the police boldly. Tod and Rebb and Arnold were silent out of sheer . Haskins had thought Geary guilty: Arnold had believed Rebb to be the doer of the deed: Tod deemed that Mrs. Crosbie had struck the blow: but not one of the three ever fancied that Mrs. Berch was the mysterious assassin of the unfortunate Italian.  
"Ask this man," said Mrs. Berch harshly, to Morgan, and pointing towards Geary. "Ask him on what grounds he makes such an accusation. My daughter and I certainly were at Belldown, and drove on past Leegarth, intending to call on Major Rebb at the Devon Maid. But our car broke down and we were obliged to stop in a cottage for the night. I can prove an ."
 
"If you can," said Morgan, finding his tongue, "why should your daughter say that she would have saved you if she could?"
 
"My daughter is mad with terror!" said Mrs. Berch, , "Madge knows that I am wholly innocent," and she looked at Mrs. Crosbie.
 
"Yes, yes, yes!" whispered the widow faintly, "we stopped the night in a cottage--we are innocent. My mother can prove an alibi."
 
"Dat one big lie!" cried Geary, with scorn, "you would like de Major to say dat I killed Bellaria. Oh yis, and I wud be hanged. Sah," he turned reproachfully towards his master, who had been willing to sacrifice him for another, after his years of faithful service, "you very wicked massa. I lub you: I do all bad tings for you, but I no die. Dis woman," he to the calm Mrs. Berch, who was much the most composed of the group, "she come here an' kill Bellaria. She write a letter sayin' dat if Bellaria come to de gate late, she wud be safe from dos who would kill her. And Bellaria she comes, wid my big knife to save herself. dis woman," he pointed again at Mrs. Berch, "she stab and stab and stab."
 
"It is all false," denied the accused woman coldly. "Do you believe this of your mother's friend, Gerald?"
 
"No," said the young man generously, "there must be some mistake. I cannot believe that Mrs. Berch would be so wicked. Her known character contradicts this man's accusation. I believed that Geary murdered Bellaria himself, at Major Rebb's instigation."
 
"That's a lie," said Rebb, in an voice.
 
"Dat one big lie," repeated Geary in his own , and in his breast pocket, "see, massa," he went towards Morgan, "dis de letter dat I find in Bellaria's dress, and----"
 
Mrs. Crosbie made a bound and a grab; but Morgan whisked the letter out of Geary's hand and held it above her head. One of the policemen caught the widow to hold her back, and she burst into tears. "Is this your writing, madam?" Morgan asked Mrs. Berch, holding the letter before her.
 
"No," said Mrs. Berch, in an unshaken voice. "Mr. Haskins knows my writing well. Gerald, look at the letter."
 
The young man took the epistle. It was evidently disguised handwriting, clumsy and . He could not reasonably say that Mrs. Berch had penned the few lines which asked Bellaria to come to the gates of the Pixy's House at midnight on a certain date to meet a well-wisher--so the letter was signed--who could save her from the Tána Society. The script was quite unlike Mrs. Berch's sloping Italian hand, which was that of the mid-Victorian . "No," he said, and very gladly, "I don't think that Mrs. Berch wrote this letter."
 
"Ah," the woman drew a long breath, but displayed no triumph. "Of course, Mr. Inspector, the charge is absolutely absurd. This mad girl whom Mr. Haskins has married murdered the creature."
 
"Ah," said Gerald, slipping his arm round Mavis, who shivered, and hid her face, "you return evil for good, Mrs. Berch."
 
Morgan took the letter and placed it in his pocket. "I don't know what to think," he muttered. "You may be innocent and Geary----" He glanced at the face of the negro, who shouted wrathfully.
 
"I no kill dat woman," he cried, stamping like a wild bull in a rage, "she write de letter, I come to dis house to find de Major, and I find Bellaria dead--she just dying."
 
"Did she speak?" Mavis asked the question.
 
"No, she no speak; she die at once. I look in de dress, and I find dat letter and dis." Geary opened his huge black palm, and on it lay the coral hand with the . "Dat on de ground near de dress," he ended.
 
"Do you recognize this?" asked Morgan, turning to Gerald, while Mrs. Crosbie uttered a of fear and Mrs. Berch became even paler than she had been.
 
Gerald had defended Mrs. Berch before and she had returned his kindness by accusing Mavis. He to leave her to her fate, since she was so ungrateful, especially as he readily recognized the coral hand. "So you did not give it back to Venosta after all!" he said to the terrified Mrs. Crosbie. "Mr. Inspector, this belongs to----" He was about to say the name when Mrs. Berch, after a glance of despair around, interrupted.
 
"It belongs to me," she said harshly, "not to my daughter. Mrs. Crosbie received it from Signor Venosta, but she gave it to me to return to him after she made use of it to control the Jew moneylender. I did not return it to Signor Venosta, I----" She stopped.
 
"It was found near the of Bellaria by this man," said Morgan gravely, "so if it belonged to you----"
 
"It hers; it hers," shouted Geary.
 
"How do you know?" asked Rebb sharply.
 
"I see dis woman in dat engine," he meant the motor car, "on de hill when I leave Bellaria dead. I run out to see where anyone was, dat kill Bellaria, and I see dat woman wid dis odder in dat engine."
 
"But you came running from the house," cried Rebb; "you could not----"
 
"Let be," said Mrs. Berch, evidently recognizing that denial was useless: "no doubt he did see me. But I am guilty and Mrs. Crosbie is perfectly innocent."
 
"Then you killed the woman?" cried Gerald, .
 
"Yes. But not . Listen. From you we learned something about this girl, and then my daughter and I were here on one occasion and knew something beforehand about the matter. We forced Major Rebb to explain, as the girl was supposed to be pretty," she cast a disdainful glance at Mavis, "and my daughter was a trifle jealous. When you, Gerald, came asking Madge to take charge of this girl I took alarm, as I thought that something serious was the matter."
 
"You did," said Rebb bitterly, "and you forced me to tell you the truth of how my income depended upon Mavis never getting married. But I did not expect you to kill Bellaria so as to save the income."
 
"I did not do so for that purpose," said Mrs. Berch . "Madge and I were in despair, as only her marriage with you could save us from terrible trouble. When Gerald explained about Bellaria's fear of the coral hand I learned its from Signor Venosta. Then I thought that I could use it to bend Bellaria to my will."
 
"What was your will?" asked Tod, who looked awestruck.
 
"To insist that Bellaria should take Mavis to Italy and keep her there, so as to prevent her marrying. Then I knew that Major Rebb's income would be safe, and that Madge could marry and take us both out of the horrible we endured trying to keep up appearances on nothing."
 
"On nothing?" cried Haskins suddenly.
 
"Beyond a hundred a year, Madge and I were penniless," said Mrs. Berch coolly.
 
"But you lived in style," said Rebb, who seemed to be thunderstruck by these revelations.
 
"Oh, we are only a couple of adventuresses," said Mrs. Berch ironically, "we deceived everyone, even Gerald's mother, who was as kind and good a woman as ever breathed."
 
"Don't," muttered the young man softly.
 
"I am only praising the dead," said Mrs. Berch . "I say no evil of her. Well then, we were in desperate straits, else I never would have hit on the desperate scheme of getting Bellaria to kidnap Mavis, which was what it amounted to. I told Madge nothing, save, that I wanted to see Major Rebb. We informed Gerald that we were going to Bognor, and we really were going. But, by my plan, we came to Devonshire, and Madge got one of her friends to lend her a motor. She drives excellently, and as we were at Belldown before, she knows the country. I pretended that Major Rebb was at the Pixy's House and had arranged to see me at midnight. This I told my daughter."
 
"And you believed so ridiculous a story?" said Morgan, fixing an official eye on the shrinking woman. But she only moaned.
 
"Leave her alone. I am to blame," said Mrs. Berch sharply, "and the murder of Bellaria was pure accident."
 
"Pure accident!" muttered Arnold ironically.
 
Mrs. Berch turned on him with a wintry smile. "Yes, sir. The car broke down--that was really an accident. While Madge was seeing what was the matter I said that I would walk on and inquire if Major Rebb was at the house, and could take us in for the night. I came to the gates and waited for a time. Bellaria came at length. She opened the gates in fear and trembling, and was armed with a large yellow-handled knife."
 
"Dat my knife," muttered the negro, and rolled his eyes.
 
"I explained who I was, and told her about the marriage. I said that I could put Venosta, as representing the society, on her track, unless she took Mavis to Italy, and kept her single. I promised her a pension, but the foolish creature," Mrs. Berch her shoulders, "would listen to nothing. She refused to go to Italy, saying that she would be killed there. I showed her the coral hand, and she tried to snatch it from me. We struggled, and she lost her head, saying that I had come to kill her. Once she wounded me in the arm," here Mrs. Berch rolled up her sleeve and showed a newly healed scar of considerable dimensions, "so I tried to take the knife from her. Then----"
 
"Then?" said Morgan, speaking for the others, who were all tongue-tied and staring at the terrible .
 
Mrs. Berch put a slim hand to her head. "I don't know exactly what took place," she said wearily and indifferently, "but somehow I got the knife, and in the struggle, in the darkness, I stabbed her to the heart. When she fell I was terrified at what I had done, and flung the knife into the long grass--the coral hand had long since fallen to the ground. Then I ran away back to the car. I found Madge had repaired the damage, which was slight. She saw blood on my dress. I told a lie, and we got into the car to fly. On the hill yonder"--she pointed over the ruined wall towards Denleigh--"the car went wrong again. Then it was that we saw a man come running up. It was Geary, but Madge started the car, and we managed to get away. I was not sure if he recognized us."
 
"You--you," said Geary, with a grin, "in de lamp. I saw you when I come to town wid my massa. But I say noting till my massa want to hang me. I come back and look for dis in de house."
 
"I had fled by that time with Arnold," said Mavis faintly.
 
"Is that all?" asked Morgan formally, turning to Mrs. Berch.
 
"What else would you have?" she asked.
 
"Did your daughter know of----"
 
"She knew nothing."
 
"I only knew that my mother had accidentally killed Bellaria," cried Mrs. Crosbie foolishly. "I made her tell me because of the blood----"
 
"You idiot," said the mother between her teeth.
 
"Then," said Morgan offici............