"Oh, no," said the sergeant, smoothly. "I have arrested you as Mrs. Vence, who struck down that boy. Afterwards you can be arrested for the murder of your husband as Lady Wyke."
"I didn't kill him, I tell you," she snarled viciously. "As to the boy, I never saw him."
"Rats!" growled Purse inelegantly. "If you are innocent of assault, why did you hide in that loft?"
Lady Wyke scowled, and saw that there was no escape from the lesser crime. "I only hit the boy lightly to punish him for telling lies."
"You stunned him. He is dangerously ill," said Claudia, quickly.
"Then how can he accuse me if he hasn't his senses about him?"
"He recovered for a moment to say that you had struck him, and he gave the reason why you did so."
"And the reason?" demanded the woman, with a sneer.
"You murdered your husband."
"Did he say that in those exact words?"