"We quarrelled about you," said Miss Arnott, in a low voice. "Yes, I can now acknowledge my love for you without shame. While you were prosperous and popular, with a stainless name, I kept silent--there was no other course open to me. Now that you are despised and accused of murder, I can tell you how dear you are to me. If you had not come to me to-day, I should still have told you."
The minister rose to his feet, horrified at this bold and, as it seemed to him, shameless confession.
"Miss Arnott," he stammered, "I--I--I cannot listen to this; I must go."
"No, stay!" she cried, with a theatrical gesture; "I have some claim on you."
"Claim on me?" replied Johnson. He could not understand her.
Miss Arnott looked at him steadily. "It was I who paid your debts," she said.
[CHAPTER X]
A FRESH PIECE OF EVIDENCE
Johnson made no further attempt to leave. He sat down again. He was too much taken aback to speak. Yet mechanically he repeated the words of Miss Arnott, as if the more clearly to convey their meaning to his mind.
"You paid my debts? For what reason, may I ask?"