"You! Why, you went to town?"
"I pretended to. But after the warning, Mr. Alpenny intended to bolt, as he feared for his life--that was why he left the note on your table. But I came back here before you returned in the wind and the rain, and looked through the window of the counting-house, in which a light burned. I saw Alpenny lying dead, and knew that the Black Patch Gang had accomplished their vengeance."
"Did you meet any one?"
"No, I saw no one. Then I entered the counting-house by the secret way, missy."
"Is there a secret way, Durban?"
"Yes. I found it by chance. See!" Durban advanced to the end of the carriage and touched a spring which was concealed behind the rep hangings. At once there was a creaking noise, and the sheet of galvanised tin, upon which rested the stove, swung aside, to reveal a narrow flight of stone steps. "These," said Durban, "lead along an underground passage into the shrubbery, and from there one can go out by the great gates, or the small one. I entered by this way, as I had a duplicate key of the great gates. I searched for the Obi necklace, and found it by looking everywhere for it. I felt the hangings, and so discovered the pocket. Then I left The Camp and climbed the Downs. On to the neck of the first sheep I could catch, I tied the necklace, and let it stray away."
"But why did you do that?" asked Beatrice, astonished.
"Because there was a curse on the necklace," said Durban with all the intensity of his negro nature. "And I did not want that curse to come upon you. You might have got the necklace, and then you would have had nothing but misery. Therefore, instead of throwing it away, for there was always the chance that it might be found, I bound it on the neck of the sheep, and lightly, thinking that the animal might lose it on the pathless Downs. I did it, missy, to save you from the curse. Well," said Durban, throwing out his hands, "old Orchard found it, and has given it to his daughter. She will be unlucky for evermore, unless she gives it to another person. And I hope," finished the half-caste vindictively, "that she will give it to Major Ruck in order that he may come to the gallows, as he has long deserved them."
"What a strange story! And you do not know who killed Alpenny?"
"No more than I know who killed Colonel Hall. But, missy, now that I have told you this, you will not go to Lady Watson?"