"Who said that I----"
"Oh, there is no need for me to give names," interrupted Clarice, in sharp tones, "but someone saw you leaving the bedroom at two in the morning. What were you doing there at that time?"
"Oh, yes, I remember." Mr. Clarke spoke in a dreamy way. "I should have spoken to the police about that. But Frank's wickedness put it quite out of my head. And then, of course, it looked awkward for me."
Clarice was almost too astonished to speak. That he should take the revelation so calmly perplexed her greatly. "How do you mean, that it looked awkward for you?" she asked, after an embarrassing pause.
"Going to see poor Horran at that hour," said Mr. Clarke, innocently; "and then seeing his dead body."
Clarice rose unsteadily. Was the man mad to admit what he had seen? She could not make any remark, but stared at him, tongue-tied. The vicar still continued dreamy and absent-minded. "And then I owed poor Horran one thousand pounds with interest," he went on, slowly; "some people might have said that I had murdered him."
"Then you--you--you are--innocent," gasped Miss Baird.
Clarke looked up sharply, struck by the speech and the significance of her tones. "Innocent," he said, in a clear and vigorous voice, "I am innocent, of course. You never thought that I was guilty?"
"Well, the person who saw you----"
"Who was it?" asked Clarke, quickly.