"Accuse me of your father's murder, although I'm as innocent as a child. But I dare say he'll hold his tongue if I pay him well. He was always fond of money, and Alpenny's legacy has made me rich."
"I don't think Durban can be bribed, nor do I think he is fond of money," said Beatrice with decision. "But for my sake, he may hold his tongue."
"Well, I shan't give up the Obi necklace," muttered Lady Watson. "The Colonel bought it for me; he got it from a Brazilian negro, and said there was a curse on it,--at least the negro did. For that reason your father--who really was fond of me, I suppose, although he had a horrid, dull way of showing his love--would not give it to me. He kept it in a green box along with his papers beside his bed, and I got it from there when he was lying dead."
"Did you see him dead?" asked Beatrice, horrified. "Of course I did. That is why Durban says that I killed him. He always did hate me, the beast!"
Beatrice passed her hand wearily across her forehead. "I cannot gather much from these scraps of information," she said irritably; "please tell me all connectedly and from the beginning."
"Oh, dear me, how very like your father you are!" said Lady Watson, with an affected shudder. "He was always so very precise: I don't know how I came to marry so dull a man. But my father made the match. He was a planter in Jamaica, and Colonel Hall was stationed at Port Royal I was merely a child--seventeen, in fact--and the Colonel fell in love with me. I married him, although I liked twenty other men better. Sir Reginald was one; but he went to England, on leave, and my father made me marry the Colonel while Reginald was away. He was in a rage when he came back. Afterwards, when the Colonel died so dreadfully, Sir Reginald married me, as he knew--if no one else did--that I had nothing to do with that horrid murder."
"Tell me the events of that night," said Beatrice keeping the voluble little woman to the point.
"Well, I'm doing it, if you will only let me speak," snapped Lady Watson; "but you are like your father, and want me to hold my tongue as he did. I'm sure I never opened my mouth for years with that man. Shortly after you were born we went to England. Amelia and Durban came also, as Durban would never leave the Colonel; and Amelia was brought for your sake, you being a baby--and a very pretty one too. Colonel Hall went down to see Mr. Paslow at Convent Grange, as they were great friends. I stopped in London for a time, as I was so sick of the Colonel's stiffness. Then I came down because he insisted on it. Major Ruck--who was really a nice man in those days--followed, and stopped at The Camp, as he wished me to elope with him. On the night of the murder I arranged to do so."
"Had the Major anything to do with the murder?" asked Beatrice hurriedly.
"He said he hadn't, but he might have told a lie. He never could tell the truth," said Lady Watson vaguely. "But as I was saying--and don't interrupt again, please--I dressed late at night I knew that Mr. Paslow, and Alpenny, and the Colonel had gone to bed. Your father and I were in different rooms, because we had quarrelled. I came out into the passage, and intended to meet Major Ruck at The Camp, where he had a carriage waiting. Alpenny should have been at The Camp also, only he stopped at the Grange--to spite me, I believe, as he loved me, and wanted to prevent my elopement."