"Yes! The murder of your father. You know that tramp you suspect?"
"The one who asked the way to the Gipsy Stile? Yes."
"I am that tramp."
"It's impossible."
"It is quite true. I have explained matters to Vane and to Mrs. Perage. Now I must explain them to you. Having admitted that I am the tramp you suspect----"
Gwen stopped him by laying her hand over his mouth. "I don't suspect the tramp, now that you are he," she said vehemently. "You are innocent, I am sure."
"How can you be sure?" asked Hench sharply. "Because you saved my life," replied Gwen in a truly feminine fashion. "No one who saved a person's life would commit a murder."
"Well, I can scarcely admit the logic of that reasoning," said Hench, unable to refrain from a smile, in spite of the desperate situation. "But I am glad that you so far trust me."
"I trust you to the death."
"Darling!"--he kissed her--"that gives me the courage to tell you all!" And he did tell her all then and there, from the time of the conversation with Madame Alpenny down to the moment when she accused him in the churchyard. "So you see, Gwen," he concluded in a melancholy tone, "that although perfectly innocent, this woman has the power to have me arrested."