When Olivia broke down Felix led her from the room, and I went to the front door--there to find them mounted on their horses.
"We are going back to Marshminster," said Felix, gathering up his reins; "thanks to this wildgoose chase Miss Bellin is quite ill. I trust now, sir, that you are convinced."
"I am not convinced that you are Francis!" I answered doggedly.
"You still think I am Felix," he asked, with a sneer.
"I do! notwithstanding the disappearance of the body, which has been made away with by Strent. I firmly believe that Francis is dead, and that you are Felix Briarfield."
"As we have seen nothing, Mr. Denham," said Miss Bellin coldly, "I must decline to believe your statement. This gentleman is Francis, and Felix is in Paris."
"Very good," said I quietly; "then I leave for Paris to-morrow."
"For what reason?"
"I go to seek Felix. You say he is in Paris, I say he is now before me on that horse. You came to the Fen Inn and found no body, Miss Bellin; I go to Paris--to the Hôtel des Étrangers, and I'll wager that I shall find no Felix."
They looked at one another in silence for a few moments. My remark evidently scared them.