"Yes. You were away for a few days and so was Spruce."
"He followed me down to Cookley."
"Are you sure?" asked Hench, wondering why the two sharp Jedd boys had not also seen the Nut.
"He confessed to me. He saw me enter the Grange; he saw me come out and go into the wood to meet Monsieur Evans at the Gipsy Stile. He stole after me and listened. You understand? He listened and learned about the property coming to you; about the advertisement; about my desire that you should marry my daughter Zara."
"Well?" asked Owain, when she stopped for want of breath.
"Well,"--she made a dramatic gesture,--"and what follows. He said nothing, but he knew the paper in which the advertisement appeared--Monsieur Evans mentioned it at the stile--and learned about the meeting. He still said nothing, but after the tale of the murder appears in the paper he comes to me."
"Yes? To accuse you; to blackmail you?"
"Ah, but no. He said nothing of me being guilty. He declared that you went down to Cookley to meet your uncle."
"How did he know?"
"I cannot say. It was, perhaps, what you call a pot-shot. But he says you are the guilty person and that he will denounce you unless I confess all. I tell him all, as I did not wish you to be arrested, and Mistare Spruce said that he would wait until you married Zara before speaking. Then he expected me to get you to give him two thousand a year for ever."