'Mr. Dexter,' I said, 'have you heard anything lately of Mrs. Beauly?'

The easy sense of enjoyment expressed in his face left it at those rash words, and went out like a suddenly-extinguished light. That furtive distrust of me which I had already noticed, instantly made itself felt again in his manner and in his voice.

'Do you know Mrs. Beauly?' he asked.

'I only know her,' I answered, 'by what I have read of her in the Trial.'

He was not satisfied with that reply.

'You must have an interest of some sort in Mrs. Beauly,' he said, 'or you would not have asked me about her. Is it the interest of a friend? or the interest of an enemy?'

Rash as I might be, I was not quite reckless enough yet, to meet that plain question by an equally plain reply. I saw enough in his face to warn me to be careful with him before it was too late.

'I can only answer you in one way,' I rejoined. 'I must return to a subject which is very painful to you-the subject of the Trial.'

'Go on!' he said with one of his grim outbursts of humour. 'Here I am at your mercy-a martyr at the stake.

fire! poke the fire!'

Poke the

and I

But there is one part of my

have been a com

'I am only an ignorant woman,' I resumed; daresay I am quite wrong. husband's trial which doesn't at all satisfy me. The

defence set up for him seems to me to plete mistake.'

'A complete mistake?' he repeated. Mrs. Valeria, to say the least of it!' lightly; he took up his goblet of wine. I had produced an effect on him.

it carried the wine to his lips.

'Strange language, He tried to speak But I could see that His hand trembled as

I don't doubt that Eustace's first wife really asked him to

buy the arsenic,' I continued. 'I don't doubt that she used it secretly to improve her complexion. But what I do not believe is that she died of an overdose of the poison, taken by mistake.'

He put back the goblet of wine on the table near him, so unsteadily that he spilt the greater part of it. For a moment his eyes met mine; then looked down again.

'How do you believe she died?' he inquired, in tones so low that I could hardly hear them.

'By the hand of a poisoner,' I answered.

He made a movement as if he was about to start up in the chair, and sank back again, seized apparently with a sudden faintness.

'Not my husband!' I hastened to add. 'You know that I am satisfied of his innocence.'

I saw him shudder. I saw his hands fasten their hold convulsively on the arms of his chair.

'Who poisoned her?' he asked-still lying helplessly back in the chair.

At the critical moment, my courage failed me. I was afraid to tell him in what direction my suspicions pointed.

'Can't you guess?' I said.

There was a pause. I supposed him to be secretly following his own train of thought. It was not for long. On a sudden, he started up in his chair. The prostration which had possessed him appeared to vanish in an instant. His eyes recovered their wild light; his hands were steady again; his colour was brighter than ever. Had he been pondering over the secret of my interest in Mrs. Beauly, and had he guessed? He had!

'Answer me on your word of honour!' he cried. 'Don't attempt to deceive me. Is it a woman?'

'It is.'

'What is the first letter of her name? Is it one of the first three letters of the alphabet?'

He threw his hands up above his head, and burst into a frantic fit of laughter.

'I have lived long enough!' he broke out wildly. 'At last I have discovered one other person in the world who sees it as plainly as I do. Cruel Mrs. Valeria! why did you torture me? Why didn't you own it before?'

'What!' I exclaimed, catching the infection of his excitement. Are your ideas, my ideas? Is it possible that you suspect Mrs. Beauly, too?'

He made this remarkable reply:

'Suspect?' he repeated, contemptuously.

There isn't the

shadow of a doubt about it. Mrs. Beauly poisoned her.'

CHAPTER XXX.

THE INDICTMENT OF MRS. BEAULY.

I STARTED to my feet, and looked at Miserrimus Dexter. I was too much agitated to be able to speak to him.

My utmost expectations had not prepared me for the tone of absolute conviction in which he had spoken. At the best, I had anticipated that he might, by the barest chance, agree with me in suspecting Mrs. Beauly. And now, his own lips had said it, without hesitation or reserve! 'There isn't the shadow of a doubt; Mrs. Beauly poisoned her.'

of.

'Sit down,' he said, quietly. There's nothing to be afraid Nobody can hear us in this room.'

I sat down again, and recovered myself a little.

S