"Your father acknowledged that when he went up the stairs after midnight, to empty my pockets while I was lying in that drugged sleep, he heard the swish of a woman's gown in the darkness, going down the stairs. That looks as though Mrs. Narby----"
"No," exclaimed Elspeth vehemently, and rising to gesticulate, "I really don't think that Mrs. Narby, bad as she is, would commit such a crime."
"She might have done so to get that two thousand pounds, and then have placed the pocket-book in my room to----"
"No, no, she would rob, and scold, and do many things, but at heart she is a coward and would never risk her neck."
"Well, then, perhaps the woman who went down the stairs was Señora Guzman."
"I don't see how she could have got into the inn."
"Neither do I," said Herries, scratching his head in perplexity, "and I don't see either why she should have killed my uncle. Say that she wanted this two thousand in order to fit out an expedition to hunt for this Peruvian treasure, my uncle was ready to give it to her, provided she removed Kyles from Maud's path."
"Yet Maud accuses her," said Elspeth, equally perplexed.
Angus shrugged his shoulders.
"Of course. Maud is a jealous rival and would hang Señora Guzman at once if she could manage to do it. It was strange that Señora Guzman was not at the trial to-day."