“I don’t know, no more than I can say why he changed his mind and bolted, my dear. However, I can tell you the whole story if you will listen.” And when Miss Inderwick signified by a gesture that she was all ears, Fuller detailed all that had taken place on the previous night. By this time they were in the library with the door closed, and Alan related his story seated in a deep armchair with Marie balancing herself on the table.
“Poor dear Uncle Ran,” she said when Fuller ended; “he wished to give that horrid Miss Grison a chance of confessing her guilt.”
“Confessing her guilt! What do you mean, Marie?”
“I mean that she knows more about the murder than she admits, and that she is in league with that nasty Indian to ruin Uncle Ran.”
Alan shook his head gravely. “You can’t be sure of that, Marie.”
“But I am,” she insisted positively. “Mr. Bakche knew that Mr. Grison was at Mother Slaig’s and went there heaps of times. She saw him.”
“How do you know?” asked Alan, surprised by her decided tone.
“Because she told me herself. Of course she didn’t know his name, but her description is exactly the same as yours—haughty, dark and——”
“Marie! Marie! How do you know this?”
“Because I visited Mother Slaig yesterday.”