"Not yet. I wish to tell you all my discoveries before doing so."
"Many thanks. I am so interested in this case that it is a great pleasure for me to follow it step by step."
"I wish no thanks from you, Merrick," said I heartily. "It is rather the other way, as your reasonings have led me to these important discoveries: First, that Felix was in Paris; second, that Francis did not arrive from Chili till this month; and third, that Felix himself hid the corpse. By myself I should never have discovered so much. But I have made one most famous discovery."
"Yes! And that is?"
"I know how the crime was committed and by whom."
"You don't say so!" exclaimed Merrick, in much excitement. "Have you seen Strent?"
"No; it was not Strent who killed Francis Briarfield."
"You don't mean to say it was Rose Strent?"
"No; it was Felix himself."
Merrick uttered an ejaculation of surprise, and remained silent for a few minutes.