"I cannot say."
"You do not know? She has not told you?"
"She has not."
"Then if she went to Parksides and saw her father, she is concealing the fact from you?" Aunt Leth did not reply. These cold, relentless questions, with their strange and close adherence to fact, bewildered her. "When she left this house last night she was in good health. Contradict me if such is not the case, and in anything I may say which is opposed to the truth. She was in good health at that time. She returned this morning, sick and ill. Has she worn this veil lately?" He produced it, and handed it to Aunt Leth.
"She wore it yesterday."
"She must have worn it when she went out last night. It was found in the grounds of Parksides to-day. Therefore Miss Farebrother must have been there. Do you recognize this brooch?"
He handed her the brooch he had shown to 'Melia Jane.
"It was given to my dear niece by her father's house-keeper."
"Mrs. Pamflett?"
"Yes."