"I had no right, but that I knew he would assist me because of his love."
"His love!" exclaimed Larcher sharply. "Did Hilliston love you?"
"Yes; I refused to have anything to do with him on account of Jeringham. But he did love me. Oh, yes, I know you thought he was in love with your wife, but such was not the case. He loved me, and me only."
Larcher drew a long breath, and looked puzzled. He was relieved to find that he had not been mistaken in Hilliston, after all, yet the assertion of Mrs. Bezel only seemed to further complicate the case. If Hilliston did not love Mrs. Larcher, what possible motive could he have to kill Jeringham? The looks of Claude and Tait reflected his perplexity; but dismissing this special point for the moment, he pursued his examination.
"How did Hilliston receive you?"
Mrs. Bezel looked around with a bitter smile. Her meaning was clear from the contemptuous expression on her face.
"Can you not guess from what you see here?" she said quietly. "Francis Hilliston bought me. He loved me well enough, but not sufficiently to marry me. He did not ruin me, for I was already ruined. I accepted his offer to come here and be his mistress. What else could I do? I was alone in London. I was friendless. I believed that my lover and my brother had fled to America. I could not return to Horriston lest I might be involved in the tragedy at The Laurels. I did what any other woman would have done, and made the best of a bad business. I accepted the love and protection of Francis Hilliston. The protection still continues, as you see—the love, that is dead and done with."
"I see you are thinking of Louisa Sinclair," interposed Tait quietly.
"What do you know of Louisa Sinclair?" asked Mrs. Bezel, with a violent start.
"Everything, thanks to you," answered Tait. "Your letter put the clew into my head. I went to Horriston; I saw a portrait of Miss Sinclair. I know that she went to America after the tragedy, and returned as Mrs. Derrick, rich and beautiful, to marry Hilliston."