"Oh, I must, father--if only to protect Harold from Van Zwieten."
"Ah! Van Zwieten! What about that letter, Harold?"
"A trap, Mr. Scarse; a trap to catch Brenda!"
"Why, the man's a villain!"
"He is all that. I hope to get a shot at him some day; I have a long score to settle with the brute!"
"I agree with you. I hope you will," Mr. Scarse said emphatically. "Punish the scoundrel! Do you know that it was he who murdered Malet?"
"No, really?--I suspected as much; but he accused me, you know, at Chippingholt. That was why I went away so suddenly. I could not face Brenda with that hanging over me."
"You should have trusted me, Harold," she said somewhat reproachfully; "I never would have believed you guilty."
"I was wrong, I know dear, but for the moment I lost my head. You see he had got my revolver, and with that apparently the murder was committed."
"It was, and by Van Zwieten himself. You left the revolver at the Manor."