"Be quiet, Francis," she said quickly; "let us hear what she has to say."
"I have to say that Felix Briarfield loved me," cried Rose angrily; "he loved me long before he ever saw you, but when you crossed his path, he wanted to leave me. He impersonated his brother Francis, who was at that time in America, and you, poor fool, did not discover the deception."
"You are quite right, I did not," replied Olivia calmly; "go on."
"When his brother Francis came back this month, he thought all would be discovered, and implored me to save him. He told me of a plan whereby he intended to decoy his brother to the Fen Inn, on pretext of explanation. There he intended to kill him."
Olivia made no remark, but placed her hand within that of Felix. I wondered she could do so, seeing that he was accused by his accomplice of a hideous crime, and made no denial.
"I went down to the Fen Inn with a man called Strent----"
"That was not his real name," I interrupted.
"How do you know that?" she said sharply.
"Never mind; I know that it is so."
"I decline to tell his real name," said Rose, darting a furious look at me. "I call him Strent, and by that name you knew him, and knew me at the Fen Inn."