"You loved Bithiah," said Brand, harshly.
"Is that a crime? Is love forbidden by the Gospel? Yes, I loved her." Miss Arnott winced at the tenderness of his tone. "I would have made her my honoured wife, but that she refused me."
"Why did she leave your house?"
"Because she loved Finland, the nephew of our Brother Carwell. I judged him too godless for Bithiah, and I forbade her to see him. Also I informed her that I would place her in the care of you, Brother Korah, to be taken back to Koiau. For love of Finland she left my house. Whither she went, I know not."
"Yet you were near the scene of the crime on the night on which Bithiah may be supposed to have been murdered."
"Certainly. I went there because it was her favourite walk. But I never saw a sign of her. On this Holy Book," Johnson touched the great Bible before him, "I never saw the girl."
"What of her treasure, brother?"
"The pearls? She took those with her, as she had every right to."
"Did you not take them from her dead body that you might pay your debts?"
"No!" cried Johnson furiously. "How dare you assume that I am guilty of such an act! I never saw the girl dead. I took no pearls from her body. Where they are, I know no more than you do."