"How was it you did not meet Frisco, who had gone up to see the Colonel?"
"I heard someone coming and went into a lower room. I thought it might be Petronella coming back. I saw it was Frisco and saw him come down again. Then I came and said to him 'He is quite dead,' and went out. After that I went on the moor. Then some time afterwards I heard three more shots. I saw Bess and her lantern and went home."
"Why did you say nothing of all this before?" asked Herrick. "There was no reason. If Frisco had been caught before, I should have told you. But he had got away, and I did not think it was right to tell about Petronella. Colonel Carr was a wicked man, and he deserved to be killed. He did a lot of harm," said Sidney, with a shudder.
"How comes it you tell me now, Sidney?"
"Because Bess told me Frisco had been arrested. He is wicked too, but I did not want him to be hanged for shooting Carr, as I knew that he was innocent. I came over to see Petronella, for I had a feeling that she would die, and I wanted to know from herself before she died if she was guilty. She denied it at first, but I said I would not go away until she told me all. That was why I stayed all night. She tried to run away. I said I would tell the police."
"That was unlike you Sidney."
"No, it wasn't," replied the boy positively, "I knew that Petronella was the one who shot Carr. If she did not confess, Frisco would be hanged--"
"You never thought you might be accused?"
"No. I did not do it," replied Sidney calmly, "why should I be accused?"
Herrick sighed impatiently. The boy could not, or would not, understand, "I suppose then Petronella confessed in the end."