"It is not nonsense," she cried in despair. "Oh, why will you not trust me? I know that it is true. Mrs. Jent told me."
"Oh! Then that was why you went to Brighton?"
"Yes. I was quite determined to find out why you forbade the marriage."
"I see," he said, ironically. "Well, are you any the happier for this discovery?"
She hid her face with a cry. "Heaven knows I am the most unhappy girl in the world!" she moaned.
"Ah!" said her father, a word of meaning in his voice. "So you do love the man after all?"
"No; but--never mind. Tell me, papa, is it true?"
"Yes. You know so much now that you may as well know more. Mrs. Jenner murdered her husband and has suffered imprisonment all these years."
"She did not murder him!" cried Ruth.
Mr. Cass, who was swinging the poker in his hands, dropped it with a crash. "Ah! and how do you know that she did not?" he asked in a stifled voice.