When Haggett came across his wife he deputed her to do the deed herself.
I suppose that either terror of discovery or merely desire for the promised reward had caused the woman to fasten the crime on another.
The finding of the ring by Haggett was the beginning of that cruel thought which, but for my dear lady’s marvellous powers, would indeed have sent a brave young man to the gallows.
Ah, you wish to know if Margaret Ceely is married? No! Captain Glynne cried off. What suspicions crossed his mind I cannot say; but he never proposed to Margaret, and now she is in Australia—staying with an aunt, I think—and she has sold Clevere Hall.
VIII.
THE BAG OF SAND
Of course, I knew at once by the expression of her face that morning that my dear lady had some important business on hand.
She had a bundle in her arms, consisting of a shabby-looking coat and skirt, and a very dowdy hat trimmed with bunches of cheap, calico roses.
“Put on these things at once, Mary,” she said curtly, “for you are going to apply for the situation of ‘good plain cook,’ so mind you look the part.”
“But where in the world——?” I gasped in astonishment.
“In the house of Mr. Nicholas Jones, in Eaton Terrace,” she interrupted dryly, “the one occupied until recently by his sister, the late Mrs. Dunstan. Mrs. Jones is advertising for a cook, and you must get that place.”