"Yes; where did you get it?"
"I found it in the ashes of the fireplace where you threw it!"
"That is not true," said Miss Gernon angrily. "I did not throw it into the fireplace. I never even had it my hand--the idea that it was poisoned frightened me."
"Pray go on with your story, Miss Gernon."
"I see you don't believe me," she flashed out defiantly, "but I am telling exactly what took place. Felix said he was going to kill his brother with the poisoned arrowhead. I told him I would have none of that sort of thing; that I only consented to play the part of a waiting maid in order to deceive his brother into a meeting. I said Francis could marry Miss Bellin, and he was to marry me."
"And after that?"
"He jeered and said he intended to marry Miss Bellin. Then I grew angry and struck him!"
She was in real earnest, for her mouth was set, and her hands were clenched. Not a pretty sight by any means. I remembered Merrick's idea, and conceived that it might be possible the woman before me had killed the man who flouted her, not intentionally, but in a fit of blind rage.
"You struck him with the arrowhead?" I hinted.
"No, I didn't! He had laid that down on the table. I struck him with my open palm, and said if he killed his brother I would denounce him to the authorities as a murderer; then he would go to the scaffold instead of the altar with Miss Bellin."