Bess Endicotte stared at Herrick where he stood with a black look on his face, and the clumsy weapon in his hand. "And I'll see Bridge about it," he was saying, "the bullet's still at the police office. If it fits this----" he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"What?" cried Bess finding her tongue, and asking the question with a shiver. "Is that the pistol with which----" here her voice died away in her throat. "It can't be," she whispered.

Herrick looked at her in his turn, and slipped the pistol into his pocket. "I know what you are thinking about," he said quietly, "but the pistol will do you no harm. I have seen it before. You are all right Bess."

"All right!" she echoed and drawing her brows together. "What do you mean?"

"Why, what should I mean, but that Joyce slipped this devilish piece of evidence into the table drawer, just to accuse you of----"

She bounded to her feet, grasping the idea for the first time. "He did that, did he?" she cried her head flung back, her eyes angry. "Oh!" she stamped, "what should be done to such a man! And you can sit quietly there Dr. Jim."

"Because I want to hear your story. After this, you must tell me all you know; all you have heard. As for Joyce," his mouth twisted, "leave him to me. He will not get off easily I promise you."

"To put the pistol there, that I----" she broke off again, and looked at him in a scared manner. "Did _he_ kill Carr?" she asked.

"That I can't say--yet. To kill the man he must have had some strong motive. I have yet to learn the motive strong or weak that would make Joyce risk his neck. He is careful of his neck too," explained Dr. Jim. "I have a mind to break it."

"And why?" asked Bess round-eyed. She had never seen the good-tempered doctor in such a rage.

"I wonder you can't guess," remarked Herrick cooling down. With a gasp Bess drew back. Their eyes met. A sudden crimson flushed her face, and she turned it away. "Yes," said Herrick taking her hand, "and I only knew it myself a moment ago."

"What are you talking about?" cried the girl snatching her hand away.

"I am talking of you and myself. Ida said that it would come all of a sudden, and she was right, here it is, and I have been looking in the wrong place for it these many months."

Bess knew perfectly well what he meant, but she made a show of not understanding. "I think we are talking nonsense," she said. "There is much to be done, if what you say about the pistol is true."

"Yes," said Herrick again, "as you say there is much to be done. The other thing can stand over for a time. You know well enough; but it suits you to hold me at arm's length. Woman's way I suppose. Well," he brisked up and his voice took a sharper tone, "let us get to business. This rascal tried to inculpate you in the crime. He shall have the finest thrashing he ever had. The pistol I can explain away. I have seen it in his house, and I can guess that he slipped it into that drawer so as to make his case against you the stronger. He thought if he accused you and could back his accusation with evidence that you would never dare to refuse him--the mean hound!"

"Indeed it would never have come to that," said the girl proudly. "I am not the woman to be won by threats. He did accuse me of the murder, and I defied him to do his worst. I suppose if you had not come, he would have shown me the pistol next. The mean scoundrel!" she clenched her fist, "beat him well Dr. Jim."

"What a blood-thirsty person it is," laughed Jim, "but upon my word you know, this is the strangest of wooings."

"Never mind that," said Bess drawing back, "we can talk later of such things. But my position is anything but a pleasant one. That little man will make trouble."

"If he does not, his Mexican friend will. They are a proper pair of scamps. However I am equal to both of them. Leave Joyce to me. I know all about him; but about yourself, nothing. Joyce--I take it--accuses you of being near 'The Pines' on the night of the murder."

"And at the hour," said Bess quickly. "This is what I have been trying to make up my mind to tell you all the week. The necessity of doing so has come earlier than I expected, but I shall explain myself now." She came to a stop and looked at him questioningly. "Of course you know I had nothing to do with the crime itself?"

"I am sure of that," said Herrick heartily. "But I think you know who did it. Come now, confess!"

"You are mistaken," cried Bess. "All I know is that Frisco is innocent."

"Have you proof of this?"

"The proof of my own eyes; I saw him at the door of the house when the shots were being fired."

"You heard the shots?"

"Three of them. The fourth I did not hear."

"Humph! About what hour was this?"

"Between nine and ten."

"And what were you doing out at that hour?"

Bess paused. "I had better tell you all from the beginning," she said slowly, "then you can judge for yourself. I have told no one as yet. It was too terrible, and--" she hesitated, "I had other reasons for silence. Yet if Frisco had been tried for his life, I should have come forward in spite of all. He is perfectly innocent. I can prove it."

"Strange," muttered Herrick taking a seat. "Well, let us hear."

"What about that horrid Joyce?"

"I'll attend to him later. He will stay at the inn until I come. That is, if he is really innocent. Of course if he tries to bolt, I shall know he is guilty, and have him arrested. Oh, Joyce knows me, and will act accordingly. Never mind him. Go on with your story."

"It is not much of a story," said Bess. "You know the habit that Sidney has of going to the Pine Wood?"

"To see the fairies? Yes, he told me all about that."

"Well, on the night of the murder, he went away as usual. It came on to rain and Ida was in a great state. She thought he would catch his death of cold--he is so delicate you know. I said I would go and look for him, and about nine o'clock I set out. I knew he would be in the Pine woods. It was raining and I wrapped a long cloak about me. He was not in the wood, although I searched everywhere with a lantern. Then I came out of the wood by mistake right on to the Colonel's lawn. The light was burning in the tower, and the whole of the house was illuminated."

"Just as I saw it," muttered Herrick. "Yes?"

"I crossed the lawn to come home, when I heard three shots fired one after the other in the tower. I heard them plainly. I turned with a start; but the Colonel had done so many queer things that I thought he was only shooting to amuse himself."

"It never struck you that it was murder?"

"No! If the Colonel had not been so eccentric I might have suspected, but nothing ever surprised me in that house. I waited for a moment. There were no more shots. I looked towards the house and there I saw Frisco standing in the doorway. I saw him quite plainly."

"That was some time after hearing the shots?"

"Indeed no. It was immediately after the first shot. When the other two were fired I saw him there. I thought that he might see me, and as I did not want Colonel Carr to think I had been spying round his house at so late an hour, I ran home as fast as I could. Sidney had arrived before me. I said nothing about the shots, and went to bed. When I heard how you had discovered the body, I knew that I had heard the shots fired by the murderer. But I knew also that when Frisco was missing he was not guilty. So that was why I defended him. I could not speak plainer could I?"

"Well, I see no reason why you should not have told the story you tell me now."

"If Frisco had been arrested I should have. But you know," here Bess looked down, "can you not understand Dr. Jim? The people round about here are sad scandalmongers. Because I called on Colonel Carr to get an article as I told you, people said that I was fast."

"The brutes!" cried Herrick firing up. "Well then, you can understand that if it had become known that I was near Colonel Carr's house so late at night, there would have been more talk. I really don't know what they would have said. So I said nothing not even to Ida. Of course I could have told them that I went out to get Sidney--but--" Bess shrugged her shoulders, "you know how spiteful people are. No! After consideration I thought it best to hold my tongue."

"But you might have told me," said Herrick.

"I was afraid to," faltered Bess.

"You foolish child, as though I should not have understood!"

"Well," she said with a sigh of relief, "I am glad I have told you now."

"So am I, as it has brought Joyce to the rope's end. How did he say he saw you on that night?"

"He was in the Pine Wood; on the verge of the lawn."

"And for what reason?"

"He did not tell me; nor did I ask him. You see," said Bess, "I was so angry that he should accuse me of shooting the Colonel, that I gave him no time to explain. Then you came, and--you know the rest."

"Humph! Well, Joyce shall explain to me his reasons for coming to Saxham. Of course I knew that he was here on that night."

"You knew?" said Miss Endicotte much astonished. "_How_ could you know."

"The information came to me by accident more or less," replied Herrick and forthwith he explained, how Stephen's remark as to Robin's income had led him to examine into the doings of the little man on that night. "And," continued the doctor, "I went to Heathcroft station. There I learned that a little man muffled up in a great coat (he had the exc............