"No! No!" cried Sir Daniel, ghastly white. "Let me go. I promise to destroy myself. Anything rather than public shame."
"I'll have you in gaol to-night," said Ferdy, triumphantly.
"Take care!" snarled Jerce. "If I killed Horran, you stamped the fern on the forehead of the dead. I'll swear that you were my accomplice."
"Clarice," cried Ferdy, gasping with fear, "you hear."
"I hear, and I know how to act," said Clarice, calm and white. "Anthony, have you pen and ink and paper? There they are," she indicated a rosewood desk in the corner of the drawing-room. "Sit down and write what Sir Daniel says."
"What would you do?" asked Ackworth, obeying her.
"I would save Ferdy."
"And hang Jerce," cried Ferdy, viciously.
"Hold your tongue," cried his sister, harshly; "Sir Daniel," she added, turning towards the miserable doctor, "if you will confess your crime, and sign the confession, you shall leave this house free."
"No! No! No!" cried Anthony, from the desk, "you are wrong."