Major Rebb flung the key across the room, and Haskins fitted it into the lock. Before he could open the door Rebb continued: "Don't be a fool in your own interests, Haskins. I shall swear that Charity is Mavis, and your beloved will lose all."
"You can scarcely do that, in the face of the story you will have to tell. Mrs. Pelham Odin and the juggler's wife and the ayah can prove that Charity is the missing twin. And I daresay Mavis' baptismal certificate can be found. Her name in the will makes her the heiress."
"Then I'll tell about Charity and prove her identity," cried Rebb, starting furiously to his feet, "and she will at least get half."
"I don't care if she does," retorted Gerald, flinging open the door.
"But you had better give the money to me, and then I'll be silent as to Charity being Durham's daughter."
"No, Major. I don't care for your crooked ways. I'll find Mavis and marry her. Probably she will be quite willing to halve the income with her twin. Three thousand a year will be enough for her and for me. Good-day, Major, find some other man who is willing to become such a blackguard as you are."
Rebb caught the decanter and slung it across the room. It only crashed against the closed door. And when Rebb ran forward to pursue the man who flouted him he found the door locked on the outside.
[CHAPTER XXIII.]
TOD'S DISCOVERY.
On returning to the Silbury Hotel. Gerald sat down to think over the important conversation with Rebb. To all appearances the master was as innocent as the man. Nevertheless, according to the Major, Geary had been to the Pixy's House on the fatal night, in spite of his denial. On the face of it, the negro had no reason to kill Bellaria, and Rebb had sworn that the murder was neither committed nor prompted by him. If this were so, it appeared strange that Rebb should have found Geary, not only in the grounds of the Pixy's House, but in the mansion itself, when he arrived. Seeing that Geary was thus first in the field, it was not improbable that he had caught a glimpse of the assassin. Whether he had, and had told his master, it was of course impossible to say. But Haskins determined to have another interview with the landlord of the Devon Maid, and force him to disclose the whole truth, which he assuredly had not told in his wife's presence.