Morgan reflected, and pulled his white moustache. "Probably Miss Durham was seized with a mania for killing and chased her nurse through the house. Miss Bellaria would then run into the garden to escape, and so was struck down on the very threshold of yonder gate. I daresay she was trying to get out and summon assistance from the village."
"You make out a very pretty case against Miss Durham, Mr. Inspector."
Morgan would have replied, but at this moment one of the constables who had been hunting in the long grass on the left hand of the gate cried out triumphantly, and held up a knife. "Here it is, sir," he said.
In another moment Morgan was holding in his hand a yellow-handled knife, of a very deadly description, which had bloodstains on the blade.
"I see," said the officer gravely, "this is undoubtedly the weapon used. It seems to me that the woman was stabbed, and then the assassin--Miss Durham, for a thousand--flung the knife aside into that long grass, before running away. Very natural, very natural; she would not care to carry with her such evidence of her guilt."
"Guilt which has yet to be proved," said Gerald hotly.
An argument ensued, in which Haskins decidedly got the worst. The inspector, and indeed everyone else, scouted the idea of Mavis' innocence. She had pursued Bellaria to the gates and, having killed her, had got rid of the knife by flinging it into the long grass. Then she had fled, not daring to face the consequences of her crime. "In which case," cried Gerald furiously, "she must be sane. A madwoman would not be afraid to remain, being ignorant of the heinousness of the offence."
Morgan shook his head, still unconvinced. And indeed Gerald saw that things looked very black indeed against the girl he loved. It was on the tip of his tongue to denounce Geary as the owner of the knife: but he could not prove this without the evidence of Mavis, and moreover he thought it wiser to keep silent as to his suspicions until he consulted Macandrew and could get legal advice. The situation was too dangerous to be dealt with hurriedly.
Later in the day Major Rebb arrived, and heard from Inspector Morgan all about the crime. He viewed the body of the poor woman and examined the knife, which he either failed to recognize or, if he did, decided to keep silence as to its ownership. He stated that he had seen his ward about four o'clock on the previous day, and that she was then in an excited condition. But, not thinking she would venture to commit a crime, he had gone back to the Devon Maid at Denleigh, and there had retired to rest at nine o'clock. Geary, the landlord of the inn, had also been with the Major nearly all the evening, and had likewise retired to bed early, as while handling a pistol he had managed to shoot himself in the right arm. The simple-minded inspector heard all this with an air of belief, and did not inquire--as he should have done--why Major Rebb should take such trouble to explain the movements of his landlord, or why that landlord had managed to shoot himself so dexterously in the right arm. And, while speaking, Rebb frequently glanced at Gerald, who was present, expecting contradiction, no doubt.
When Morgan had taken notes of the Major's evidence, that military gentleman beckoned to Haskins, and together they went into the room which the missing girl had used. It was comfortably and even luxuriously furnished, and Gerald, casting swift glances around, never doubted but that the Major--either out of diplomacy, or because he was conscience-stricken--had treated his prisoner with every consideration. When the door was closed, Rebb looked searchingly at his unwelcome visitor.