"That is a nice Christian feeling, I must say," retorted Carrington uneasily.
"Men such as you are, who go about attempting murder, should be locked up," was the stern reply. "You intended to kill me."
"I did not. I intended to stun you, and thought I had done so," protested Carrington sullenly. "No one was more astonished than I was, when I heard next day from Hendle there that you were dead. I thought the heart disease had killed you."
"I had no heart disease, and----"
"We know all about that," interrupted Mallien restlessly. "But tell us how that scoundrel managed to knock you down."
"Give me another dose of brandy, Tobias," said the vicar, and when he felt stronger after taking the spirit proceeded slowly to explain. "I was in my study on that night, and as it was after ten o'clock, Mr. and Mrs. Jabber had retired to rest. I had found the will, which I had mislaid, and was reading it, when I heard a tap at the window."
"I don't know about your reading it," said Carrington insolently, "as I watched you for some time through the window before I tapped. You were holding a parchment over a candle. I believe that you intended to burn the will."
"Perhaps I did," said the vicar with a queer smile. "There is more to be known about that will than you guess. At all events when I heard your tapping on the glass I blew out the candle and put down the will. I opened the window--you know it is a French window, Hendle--and looked out to see who had come at such an untimely hour. When I recognized you and you intimated that you wished to speak to me, I admitted you. I believed that you had come down to stay with Hendle and had arrived late."
"Did you lock the window again after admitting Carrington?" asked Rupert.
"I snicked it, certainly," replied Leigh quietly. "Not that doing so mattered, for, as there was nothing to steal at the vicarage, I paid little attention to bolts and bars."