"Sit down," said Conniston, lighting a cigarette. "I will tell you the whole story. It was not told you before, as Mark was afraid, with your impatient disposition, you would insist on turning up and spoiling the whole business."
"I daresay I should have done so," admitted Bernard, frankly. "But, tell me, what's up, old chap? I'm on tenterhooks."
"Well, in the first place, we have discovered that Julius killed your grandfather."
Bernard started to his feet. "What!" he shouted, then calmed down. "I almost expected to hear you say that," he added. "How was the villain found out?"
"You may well call him a villain," rejoined Conniston; "he has tried to poison Michael."
"What for?"
"To get rid of an undesirable witness, I suppose. He employed Jerry to give him some arsenic in a cup of tea. Jerry did so, and then cleared out, Mark communicated with Scotland Yard about Jerry, but we never expected he would be here. It's a lucky thing you kept the young wretch prisoner, Bernard."
"This is all very well," said Bernard, who looked bewildered. "But you tell me so many facts without detail that I can't understand how to connect them. Tell me the whole story."
"You won't interrupt if I do?"
"No," said Gore, impatiently, "fire ahead, Dick."