"Of course; pardoned by the State for a crime he never committed, after passing nearly twenty years in gaol for Miss Gilmar's sake. I don't wonder the old fellow is dying. He is worn out with trouble and a sense of harsh injustice. He has one foot in the grave now, and I expect he'll drop into it as soon as his son marries Edith Wedderburn."
"And he didn't kill Kirkstone after all?"
"No," replied Gebb, with something of a dismal air. "It appears from the confession left by Miss Gilmar that she struck the blow. Do you remember the bowie-knife mentioned in the evidence as belonging to Dean?"
"Yes, the knife with which the man was killed," said Parge. "The sister borrowed it from Dean, didn't she?"
"Yes; and it appears that in her rage against Ellen Gilmar for presuming to love Dean, she threatened her upstairs with the knife, while Kirkstone and Dean were quarrelling in the smoking-room. Ellen wrenched the knife away, and said she would take it at once to Dean in the Yellow Room. She went down with it, and found that having quarrelled, Dean and Kirkstone had parted, the former having gone up to bed Ellen entered with the knife in her hand, and laid it on the table. Then Kirkstone, who was in a bad temper, began to insult her. She retorted, and in a short space of time they were at it hard. Then when Miss Gilmar said something unusually cutting to Kirkstone, he rushed at her to strike her. She snatched up the knife to defend herself, and held it point out. In his blind rage he dashed against it, and the point pierced his heart. He fell dead on the spot."
"Oh," said Parge, reflectively, "then it was really an accident!"
"Yes; but Miss Gilmar was so terrified that she hardly knew what to do. Then, remembering that the knife belonged to Dean, and that he had been fighting with Kirkstone, also that he despised her love, she determined to inculpate him, so as to avenge herself and save her own life. She ran upstairs and told him that Kirkstone wished to see him again in the Yellow Room. Dean fell into the snare, and came down only to find Kirkstone dead with the knife in his heart Then he was seized with a panic, and fled back to his room, whence he was dragged when that wicked old woman accused him of the murder!"
"Didn't Dean suspect her?"
"No; he fancied that Laura, to whom he had lent his knife, had struck the blow; but afterwards, when reviewing the circumstances in prison, it occurred to him that Miss Gilmar might be guilty."
"But how did Miss Gilmar quieten Laura?"