Herne was rather amazed by this strange speech, and replied rather stiffly: "You must certainly know if you shot Milly or not?"
"That is just what I don't know," retorted Lester with a haggard look. "I left home under the influence of drink and with a pistol in my possession, angry with Milly for the way in which she was deceiving you. I recollect nothing after that until I found myself at dawn in my own garden; the events of the night have vanished from my mind; my memory is a complete blank. Who knows but what I may not have shot my poor Milly unknowingly?"
"H'm!" said Herne, thoughtfully; "in a condition like that you would certainly act in accordance with the uppermost thought in your mind. Was it to kill Milly?"
"God forbid! Even in my drunken frenzy I had no thought of harming my own flesh and blood. I wanted to kill the man who was to meet her--Lucas Lovel."
"How do you know that he was going to meet her on that night?" asked Herne, eagerly.
"I did not know for certain," replied Lester, "but as Milly had not come home, I thought she might be with Lovel. She met him before, you know."
"Yes, I know," said Darcy, gloomily. "Well, if you went out to kill Lovel, you would not shoot at your own daughter."
"She might have thrown herself in the way to protect Lovel."
"I doubt it. But only Lovel can prove that, and he denies that he met her on that night."
"Do you believe him?"