"Oh, mother, mother," cried Mrs. Crosbie, "I would have saved you if I could."
[CHAPTER XXVI.]
THE GODS ARE JUST.
There was an absolute silence for a few moments. What with one accusation and another, Inspector Morgan's brain was reeling. Gerald could only stare in blank amazement at the negro, who declared so positively that Mrs. Berch was guilty of a cowardly murder. As for the accused woman, she put aside her weeping daughter gently and faced the police boldly. Tod and Rebb and Arnold were silent out of sheer astonishment. Haskins had thought Geary guilty: Arnold had believed Rebb to be the doer of the deed: Tod deemed that Mrs. Crosbie had struck the blow: but not one of the three ever fancied that Mrs. Berch was the mysterious assassin of the unfortunate Italian.
"Ask this man," said Mrs. Berch harshly, to Morgan, and pointing towards Geary. "Ask him on what grounds he makes such an accusation. My daughter and I certainly were at Belldown, and drove on past Leegarth, intending to call on Major Rebb at the Devon Maid. But our car broke down and we were obliged to stop in a cottage for the night. I can prove an alibi."
"If you can," said Morgan, finding his tongue, "why should your daughter say that she would have saved you if she could?"
"My daughter is mad with terror!" said Mrs. Berch, stonily, "Madge knows that I am wholly innocent," and she looked at Mrs. Crosbie.
"Yes, yes, yes!" whispered the widow faintly, "we stopped the night in a cottage--we are innocent. My mother can prove an alibi."
"Dat one big lie!" cried Geary, with scorn, "you would like de Major to say dat I killed Bellaria. Oh yis, and I wud be hanged. Sah," he turned reproachfully towards his master, who had been willing to sacrifice him for another, after his years of faithful service, "you very wicked massa. I lub you: I do all bad tings for you, but I no die. Dis woman," he pointed to the perfectly calm Mrs. Berch, who was much the most composed of the group, "she come here an' kill Bellaria. She write a letter sayin' dat if Bellaria come to de gate late, she wud be safe from dos who would kill her. And Bellaria she comes, wid my big knife to save herself. Den dis woman," he pointed again at Mrs. Berch, "she stab and stab and stab."
"It is all utterly false," denied the accused woman coldly. "Do you believe this of your mother's friend, Gerald?"