I defended her against Daisy, and my wife defended her also.
We tried to believe that she had no ill intention, and see—see what comes of it.
She steals the stiletto, and kills the child in the most brutal manner.
I swear to hunt her down. I swear——!"
The rector caught down the uplifted hand which Morley was raising to the heavens.
"Be yourself," he said sternly; "there is no need for a man to call upon God to witness a blood-thirsty oath.
If the woman is guilty, let her be punished. But give her the benefit of the doubt.
Appearances are against her, I admit.
All the same, she may be able to prove her innocence."
"You might as well talk to the wind as to me.
She is a murderess; I'll do my best to have her hanged."
Morley spoke with such vehemence that Drake looked closely at him.
He wondered if the man had any grudge against Anne Denham that he spoke of her with such bitterness.
Certainly her crime was a terrible one, and she deserved to be condemned.
But it would only be fair that she should be first tried.
Morley, on the contrary, had already judged her, without waiting to hear what she had to say in her own favor.
"Well, Mr. Morley, there is nothing more to be said," he remarked coldly, for he disliked this melodrama; "we must wait till the police come in the morning.
Meanwhile I shall go to my home and get some sleep."
"I can't sleep with that in the house," replied Morley, abruptly rising; "I'll go with you."
"Where?"
"To the churchyard—to the grave.
I intend to look for the weapon.
It may have been left there—tossed aside by the assassin after the crime."
"But the night is dark—the snow is falling. You will not be able to do anything.
Be advised, and——"
"No. I'll come with you now.
If I find nothing, it is all the better for her.
If I do——" He shook his hand again fiercely.
Drake argued no longer, seeing that the man's brain was in such a state that it was best to humor him.
They went out together, but at the church-gate Drake excused himself and retired to his home.
He had no wish to see Morley groping amongst the graves like a ghost.
Pausing until the little man disappeared into the gloom, the rector went to his house, wondering at the sudden change in Morley's character.
He had been a light-hearted and rather frivolous creature; fond of gaiety and overflowing with the milk of human kindness. Now he was fierce and savage enough for a Caliban.
"He must have loved that poor girl very dearly," sighed Drake, "but I can't believe that such a charming woman as Miss Denham committed so cruel a crime.
There is some mystery about this," and in this last speech he was right.
There was a mystery about the death, and a much deeper one than a shallow man like the rector could fathom.
All through the long night Mrs. Morley watched by the dead.
She had placed candles on either side of the bed, and laid a cross on the poor child's breast.
Drake was quite shocked when he saw this Papistical arrangement. But it afterwards came out that Mrs. Morley had been educated in a convent, and had imbibed certain notions of the Romish ritual for the dead that, her memory reviving, made her act thus, in spite of her openly confessed belief in the communion of the English Church.
While she was thus sitting and weeping, Morley looked in.
He was wild and haggard, but in his eyes glared a triumphant expression which terrified his wife.
She did not dare to move. He crossed the room, and looked at the body.
"You shall be avenged, my dear," he said solemnly, and before Mrs. Morley could recover from her surprise and denounce this ill-chosen moment for a visit, he wheeled round and disappeared.
He did not retire either, no more did the servants, who were collected in the kitchen steadying their nerves with tea.
So it happened that when Giles, weary, wet, and worn, rode up to the door in the morning on a jaded beast, he was met by Morley.
"Have you caught her?" asked the man.
Giles dismounted and threw the reins to a groom.
"No.
Trim went one way and I another.
Where he is I don't know, but my horse gave in, and I returned." He entered the house. "Where is the body?" he asked.