"Yes, madam," replied the stranger in a harsh but not unmusical voice, "according to appointment."
"It is now three weeks since we first met," said Frank. "You purchased this house of the person from whom I leased it, some three weeks ago. But I have a lease upon it which has yet one year to run. You desire, I believe, to purchase my lease, and enter at once upon possession? Well, sir, I am resolved not to sell."
Without directly replying to her question, the man in the cloak with many capes replied—
"We did not meet three weeks ago for the first time," he said. "Our first meeting was long before that period."
"What mean you?" said Frank raising her eyes and endeavoring, although vainly, to pierce the gloom which enshrouded the stranger. "O, it is getting dark. I will ring for lights."
"Before you ring for lights, a word,—" the stranger's voice sank but Frank heard every word,—"we met for the first time at a funeral—"
"At a funeral!"
"At a funeral; and after the funeral I had the body taken up privately and ordered a post mortem examination to be made. Upon that body, madam,—" he paused.
"Well, sir?" Frank's voice was tremulous.
"Upon that body I discovered traces of a fatal although subtle poison."