"It was my father I saw through the door," she whispered, bending over me anxiously, "he called to see Anne on that day. She came back and told me he was there. I did not wish to meet him, as already I had caught a glimpse of his face. Therefore I ran out of the back door, leaving my cloak behind me."
"Why did you not wish to meet him?"
"Because he would have insisted upon knowing why I had come to Mootley. If he had learned what I had found in the diary he would have got the secret from Anne, and then the money would have passed into his possession, to make bad use of. I thought it better to go, and I fled on the impulse of the moment. I had no time to think."
"Dear, I believe that your father knew Mrs. Caldershaw possessed the secret, else why should he have come to see her."
"Then you guessed that I was shielding him?"
"Yes, I guessed, and now I know for certain."
"Who told you, Cyrus?"
"Your father himself."
Gertrude rose unsteadily to her feet, grasping my arm. "But--but," she stammered, "has he confessed that he is guilty."
I rose also and at the same moment. "No, dear. He is the last man to confess anything that would get him into trouble. He swears that he is innocent."