The Silent House

Vrain, as he was too astonished at her vehemence to find his voice read

t be mistaken,"

declared that you su

isively, "because at the time of the murder Mr

; "but you mistake my meaning. I do not say that Mrs. Vrain commit

e assassin, in

ercule F

Ital

guess from

ement, "for, from the nature of the wound, I believe

tion. "That strengthens the accu

t she was saying, "when I mentioned my suspicion about

cked her. Oh, I am sure of it, Mr. Denzil! M

an cautiously. "We must not jump to conclusions. At prese

n you, but it i

na speak and watch her face for hours without weariness. "I wish

history from the time he went to Italy some three years ago. It was in It

ore you begin, will you tell me

of the two. The old man, Jabez Clyne, I think moderately well of; he is a weak fool under the thu

ou could hold you

the house and made me exile myself to the Antipodes to escape her falseness. And it was she," added Miss Vrain solemnly, "who treated my father so ill as to drive him

d so well with her stately looks that she seemed rather a Margaret of Anjou defying York and his faction than an injured woman concerned with so slight a thing as the rebuke of one of her own sex for whom she had little l

were one, I could not have restrained myself from speaking as I did. When you know my stepmother as well as I do-but I must t

ttention, M

and had lived more or less the life of a recluse in Berwin Manor. He was writing a history of the Elizabethan dramatists, and became so engrossed with the work that he neglected his health, and consequently there was danger that he might suffer from brain

cian, thinking of the extraordinar

a trifle weak in the head from overwork b

ulge in str

ngularly abstemious in eating and drinking," she

a Square that Berwin-the name by which your father was known-drank too much; and when

id Diana in a low voice. "Yet I wonder at it, for his health was none of

Lucian, noticing Diana's

m that disease. But I see how it is," said Diana, wringing her hands. "During my short absence, and under the tyranny of his wife, his physical he

th your story, Miss Vrain? Later on we can discuss these matters, when I am in

rno, we met with Lydia Clyne and her father. They had only lately arrived in Italy-from New York,

know those Italian nobles too well to suspect that this C

derate fortune indeed, and his daughter nothing. It was for that reason that Lydia threw over the count, to whom she was almost engaged, and began to pay attention to my father.

love this

id; and, what is more

ruci still acquaint

nd Mrs. Vrain. I never liked her, knowing that she was false and frivolous; but though I did my best to s

first, but not the las

lyne became Mrs. Vrain. I could do nothing with my father, as he was possessed of the headstrong passion of an old man, and, moreover, Lydia had learned to know his weak points so well

forced, out of self-respect, to leave the house. I had some relatives in Australia, to whom I went out on a visit. Alas! I wish I had not

rriage was

After my departure I received letters from a friend of mine, who told me that Lydia had invited Count Ferruci over on a visit. My father, finding that he could do nothing, and seeing what a mistake he had made, returned to his

a very neces

expect that his brain grew weaker with study, and perhaps with the strong drink and drugs which this woman drove him to take. No doubt the poor man gr

nstrated Lucian. "We really do not

oes Lyd

o feasible e

ay of getting at the truth of this matter? I fe

fs," said Denzil,

you said yourself

annot say for certain that the deed was committed with such a weapon

not find

ear

e search

"However, if it will give you any satisfaction, Miss V

of Lydia's guilt in a way she little dream