"So I think," observed the captain, who had taken no part in the war of words, "and anything I can do----"
"You can do nothing," cried Miss Tedder, who seemed anxious to place her cousin in the dock. "If Angus is to be hanged, he will have to be hanged, though it is hard that I should suffer from such a disgrace. But papa's murderer must be punished."
"I tell you Herries had nothing to do with the murder," said Dr. Browne, violently, and his face becoming suffused with blood. "I wonder at your persistence in accusing him."
"I go by what Inspector Trent says, and----"
"See here," remarked the sailor in his lazy drawl, "I don't like to see a fellow go to the wall, if I can help him. Miss Tedder," he bowed to Maud, "has consented to be my wife, but I do not think that either one of us would care to have a relative hanged for a capital offence. Besides, to my mind, the evidence is so clear that I believe Herries to be guiltless. I shall therefore go along with this gentleman, and learn what I can likely to help the poor fellow. Dr. Browne," he bowed to the medical man, and in a somewhat foreign fashion by clicking his heels together, "I understand, also wishes to prove Mr. Herries' innocence."
"I do," said the doctor doggedly, and wondering why the Captain was so anxious to assist, "and I intend to."
"In that case," Kyles extended a small and shapely hand, "we may as well work together."
Browne took the hand. Indeed, he could do nothing else.
"But I should like to know why you are so certain that Herries is innocent?"
"Are _you_ not certain?" inquired Kyles gravely. "Yes, but then I know Herries well, and although appearances are dead against him, I----"