Dredge shrugged his shoulders. "It seems to me that there is little chance of my telling you anything you don't know," he said, folding up the letter and replacing it in his breast pocket. "And that is all Striver has to say. I got out a warrant on the confession which he enclosed, and came here this morning. With two policemen I called at Miss Destiny's house, which was pointed out to me. She was away, and the girl Lucinda tried to escape to give her mistress warning."
"Did Lucinda know the truth?"
"Yes; she drove her mistress on that evening." Dredge stopped and waved his hands. "You'll hear that in the confession."
"Whose confession?"
"Miss Destiny's. Striver did not trust her, and moreover was fearful lest he should be accused of the deed. He swore to tell the police and give evidence against her unless she wrote out clearly what had occurred and signed it. Forced to do so, she did as she was bid, and Striver held this confession over her head so as to compel her to do his bidding. Lucinda would have warned her mistress, but--guessing that Miss Destiny would witness the trial flight of the airship--I took the girl with me and went to Mr. Weston's yard. You heard how she gave voice and saw how the mistress escaped. So"--he wiped his face with a shiver--"that is ended. God have mercy on the black soul of that woman."
"Amen to that," I said, while Gertrude wept silently. "But Striver seems to have behaved like a scoundrel."
"Never mind, Cyrus, he has made amends," whispered Gertrude through her tears--tears of which Miss Destiny was unworthy.
"Here," said Dredge, spreading out another document, "is the confession of Julia Destiny, signed by her in the presence of Striver. I need not read it," he added, folding up the precious paper and putting it away, "as I can give you a hasty précis of the contents. My time is short," he glanced at his watch, "I have to catch a train in an hour at Tarhaven. I must be brief."
"Yes, go on, and make the telling as short as you can," I said anxiously, "for Miss Monk cannot bear much more."
While I fondled Gertrude's hand within my own, the Inspector related what Miss Destiny had written. The wicked little woman had intended to get the eye, even if she had to kill Anne Caldershaw to force it out of the woman's head. She had arranged to bring Striver, Gertrude, and Walter Monk to Mootley so as to implicate them, if possible, and save herself from being accused of murder. She therefore arranged with Lucinda, who was bound body and soul to her service, to drive over early to Mootley on the second day of her journey thither. Lucinda, with the trap, remained behind a hedge near Murchester, and Miss Destiny, evading notice, crept through the fields to the corner shop. Striver was up stairs, but she did not know that, as Mrs. Caldershaw said nothing. But she learned that Gertrude had been, and saw the white cloak left behind in the kitchen, along with one of the blue glass-headed pins. She also learned that Monk had paid a visit, so she was quite prepared to fasten the blame of her contemplated deed on anyone of them.