The rough winding way led to the summit of the Crow’s Cliff, until Martin at last reached the top.
Then Geoffrey saw the butler bending down, eagerly, examining a patch of grass near the edge of the Cliff He was searching for that deadly grey fungus with the scarlet spots, which, when gathered at dawn, was most dangerous to human life!
Falconer, modest in his scientific achievements, but bold when faced with an alternative, saw the man in the act of picking one of the mushrooms, and suddenly sprang upon him.
“At last, Martin!” he cried. “So it is you who are trying to poison your mistress! Now I know the truth!”
The fellow, his face blanched, flung himself free.
“What do you mean?” shouted the exemplary butler in wild defiance.
“I mean that you are not Mrs. Mapleton’s servant at all! You are her rightful husband, and moreover you were a partner with her in certain shady transactions. You and she ran a private gaming-house in Bayswater, and afterwards at San Sebastian. From the profits of the place Mrs. Mapleton derived her private income, unknown to Mapleton, who believes it is from Consols. Four years ago one Paul Berton, a rich French landowner, was robbed and died mysteriously in that house in San Sebastian—killed in circumstances which left no doubt in your wife’s mind that you were the assassin.”
“It’s quite untrue!” protested Martin.
“Let me go on,” said Falconer. “Your wife hated you, because you were a murderer. She fell in love with Mapleton, and under threats of disclosing your crime to the police, she compelled you to remain aside, and she married the man she loved. Then you persecuted the unfortunate woman, who believed that she was safely out of your clutches. You compelled her to engage you as her butler. Why? Your first idea was to poison Mapleton, so that you should get his money through his wife. But when she saw through your plot and threatened to expose you, you sought to secretly poison her, and thus close her lips—at the same time throwing suspicion upon the jealous woman, Madame Garcia!”
“A lie—an absolute lie!”