Then the voice of Jack Rotherfield sounded loud and clear above all the others outside.
“She’s dead, I know she’s dead.”
“Hush!”
It was Minnie who was trying to silence him, but the young man still ejaculated, in a tone of passionate remorse and horror,
“I know she’s dead. I know it. It was I killed her.”
“What!”
Sir Robert hissed out the word, in horror and dismay.
Jack Rotherfield went on, in a deathlike silence which made every word ring out:
“I meant only to frighten her. It was an accident. I fired a revolver into the air, as I thought, but the bullet struck her as she leaned out of the window.”
There were sounds of sobbing and suppressed screaming, and in the midst of it Sir Robert knocked again at the door.