there was a silence after this declaration of chaskin's, for neither of the young men knew what reply to make. the vicar did not affirm his innocence, as he had done earlier in the interview; nor did he accuse anyone else of committing the crime with which he was charged. he took up a purely negative attitude, and by doing so threw on paul and lovel the onus of proving their accusations. nothing in the way of defence could have been more unsatisfactory. on seeing their hesitation chaskin reiterated his speech.

"i do not repeat that i am innocent," he asserted. "if you think that i killed that unhappy girl, you must continue to do so. but," added the vicar with irony, "i fail to see what motive you can ascribe to me for such an act."

"the motive of jealousy," said lovel sullenly; "you were in love with milly. oh, you need not deny it, mr. chaskin; i know it for a fact."

"my friend," said chaskin coldly, "i do not intend to deny it; but i question your right to make such a statement. it is true that i loved miss lester; but she never knew of my passion. she was the promised wife of my friend, and as such i did not think myself justified in revealing my feelings. you, mr. lovel, were less scrupulous."

"i admit it," replied lovel, attempting a weak defence; "but i loved her."

"all the village knew as much; but i do not call that love which debases its object. if you had said nothing to miss lester, she might have refused to meet you. and had she not met you," added chaskin emphatically, "this tragedy would not have taken place."

"as to that, you know best!" sneered the younger man.

"as you please, sir," rejoined the vicar. "i refuse to defend myself to you."

"can you defend yourself at all?" questioned mexton suddenly.

"i shall answer that question when i am asked it by the duly constituted authorities."

"at least tell us how you lost that pistol."

the vicar rose from his chair, and walking across to a side table, lifted therefrom an oblong box of mahogany. this he opened and placed before his visitors.

"this is a remnant of my soldiering days," he said. "once it contained two pistols; now, as you see, there is only one. the other, i admit freely, is the weapon which you showed to me, mr. mexton."

"the weapon with which milly was murdered," said lovel viciously.

"no doubt; but, as i told you, i lost it some four weeks ago,"

"how did you lose it?" asked paul; for it seemed to him that chaskin was evading the point.

"i cannot tell you," replied the vicar; "the box stood always on that table. i see many people in this room; any one of them might have taken it."

"mother jimboy, for instance?"

"no; for the simple reason that mother jimboy never came to the vicarage."

"herne says she did," cried lovel; "and that you saw her in this room before the murder."

chaskin drew a long breath, and seemed to consider his reply: "mr. herne is mistaken," he said at length; "the gipsy was never in this room."

"then somebody is telling a lie!" said lovel, looking sharply at chaskin.

"no doubt," he answered coolly; "but i am not bound to find the liar for you."

"perhaps i know where he is to be found without your aid!"

the vicar shut down the lid of the box with a snap, and once more rose to his feet. "this conversation has lasted long enough," he said with dignity, "and i have replied to your questions very patiently. i refuse to answer any more."

"you say you are innocent?" asked paul.

"i say nothing."

"you know who is guilty?" insisted lovel.

"i know nothing."

this was all the answer they could obtain from chaskin, so, seeing that it was useless to prolong the interview with so obstinate a man, paul and his friend departed. their visit had been productive of no good, and--if chaskin were guilty--they had only succeeding in putting him on his guard. but was he guilty? the two young men took different views of the question. paul was inclined to side with the vicar; while lovel was equally bent on insisting that the vicar was the assassin.

"if he has not killed milly, he would declare that he was innocent," said he.

"he did so, when we first spoke to him. that is a point in his favour."

"i don't see it at all," said lovel obstinately; "he did not know what evidence we could bring against him. when he knew, he took refuge in silence."

"well," objected paul, more just than his prejudiced companion, "if you remember, he denied that mother jimboy had stolen the pistol. if he were guilty, it is probable that he would seize on every chance to exculpate himself and inculpate others. the suggestion made by herne would have been a good opportunity of shifting the blame from his own shoulders on to those of the gipsy; but, as you heard for yourself, lovel, he declined to take advantage of the opening."

"bah! that is his cunning. i daresay he has a defence all ready."

"if so, he did not entrust us with it," rejoined mexton, a trifle drily.

"no; he's not such a fool as to show his hand unless forced to do so. should drek arrest him, he would have lies in plenty to prove his innocence."

"i don't think there is sufficient evidence to arrest him."

"drek may think otherwise," replied lovel, looking at his watch. "come to the herne arms, mexton, for i expect the inspector will be waiting for us there. we will tell him of our interview with the vicar, and see what his opinion is about the matter; i should not be surprised if mr. chaskin was in gaol by this evening."

"i should be very much surprised," said paul emphatically. "as lester is already accused of the crime, and is to stand his trial next week, drek cannot arrest chaskin as yet, however guilty he may think him. you can't have two people legally accused of the same crime. one must be proved innocent before the other can be imprisoned as suspected of guilt."

"as to these points of law, i know nothing about them," replied lovel impatiently; "all i know is that to my mind chaskin is the guilty person. the evidence of gran jimboy and the production of that pistol are sufficient to hang him. however, we shall see."

there was nothing more said at the moment, as the conversation threatened to become disagreeable, and the two men walked to the herne arms. here they found inspector drek, who informed them that lester had delivered the message, but could not be present at the interview, as he had been called out to see a patient some miles away, and did not expect to be back before six o'clock. however, he was at their disposal, and very anxious he was to know why they had sought the interview.

"come up to my room, and i'll tell you," said lucas, and led the way to his sanctum. here he ordered cigars and whisky; and having made his friends and himself comfortable, he related to drek the story of his connection with mrs. jimboy, and his knowledge of what had taken place in the lane on that fatal night. all of which has been already set forth.

"i think it wise that you should know all this, mr. drek," he said, concluding, "as someone else may relate my history in a more or less distorted fashion; and i am, as i can see plainly, in too dangerous a position to trifle with the law. now our friend mexton here can tell you of his visit to london, and our visits to mrs. jimboy and chaskin."

"mr. chaskin! the vicar!" cried drek, who in his interest had let his cigar go out. "what has he to do with the matter."

"let me explain," said paul; and, in his turn, he told the inspector of his interview with catinka, his discovery of the pistol in the gipsy tent, and finally the interview which, with lovel, he had taken part in at the vicarage. drek, being thus in possession of all the evidence gathered by the pair, was in a position to deliver judgment. this, however, he found it difficult to do, as he was not a particularly clever man; and the multiplicity of facts with which he had now to deal somewhat bewildered his brain. however, he saw what was expected of him in his official capacity, and rising to the occasion, he did his best to grapple with the situation.

"if you will permit me, gentlemen," said he, taking a drink of whisky to freshen up his faculties, "i will recapitulate all that we have discovered--severally discovered--since the crime was committed. then we can see against whom the evidence is strongest, and perhaps learn thereby who killed the girl. but i confess," added drek, with a downcast air, "that i am not very sanguine."

"why not?" exclaimed lucas, hotly. "there is plenty of evidence."

"that is the whole point, sir, there is too much evidence."

"against chaskin, i mean."

"and against herne, also," observed paul. "if the pistol found by gran jimboy incriminates chaskin, no less does the blood-stained handkerchief point to the guilt of herne."

"but herne can't be guilty," protested lucas, angrily. "i tell you he was in a trance when the shot was fired."

"after the shot was fired," corrected mexton. "remember, you did not see him until the girl was dead."

"he couldn't have fired the shot and then have fallen into a trance."

"why not? the very act might excite his nerves to such a degree as to cause the trance. you know that these cataleptic states of herne's are caused by violent emotion."

"but if he had fired the shot i should have found the pistol in his hand."

"he might have dropped it."

"no! i searched for it," said lucas, obstinately, "and didn't find it."

"in your agitation you might have overlooked it," replied paul as obstinately.

"gentlemen, gentlemen," cried drek, intervening in the matter; "this discussion is unprofitable. you may both be right, and both wrong. but we shall not arrive at any conclusion by such loose arguments. let us begin at the beginning and state all the cases."

"what cases?" asked lovel, abruptly.

"the cases against all those connected with the matter," said drek. "dr. lester, miss clyde, this polish violinist, yourself, mr. herne, and finally, mr. chaskin. there is strong evidence against each."

"i daresay," retorted lucas, tartly, ill pleased at his name being in the list; "but such evidence has proved the most of us innocent. dr. lester, for instance."

"well, sir, dr. lester; look at the case against him. he is very poor; he wished his daughter to marry mr. herne, and learnt that the marriage--important to him as the means of securing a rich son-in-law to pay his debts--is likely to be broken off by the young lady's flirtation with you. the doctor becomes mad with drink, and taking a pistol, starts out to kill you. he remains away all the night, and cannot account for his actions. in the interval his daughter is killed; so we may assume that, intending to shoot you, mr. lovel, he shot her."

"quite so," said paul, drily; "but all that evidence is nullified by miss clyde's statement."

"i know that," replied drek, with coolness, "but failing miss clyde's statement the evidence is strong against dr. lester. but he is innocent, so he is out of the case. now miss clyde: she is in love with mr. lovel, and is jealous of miss lester. she takes a loaded pistol off the doctor, and is lurking in the lane to see the meeting of the man she loves with the woman she hates. here, then, we may say that out of jealousy, and to get rid of a rival, miss clyde killed the girl."

"that evidence is rebutted by the fact that miss clyde could not have arrived home in time if she had killed milly. her hour of arrival at the farm can be proved by mrs. drass. also, if miss clyde were guilty, she would not have produced that pistol."

"very good," assented drek, still imperturbable; "then we will strike out miss clyde also. now, then, for catinka. she wants mr. herne's money, and thinks she will lose it if he marries miss lester. to remove this obstacle, she comes down to barnstead and kills the girl."

"bosh!" said lovel, rudely. "if she had killed milly she would not have left the clue of the rainbow feather, whereby she could be traced. you can strike catinka out of your list also, mr. inspector."

"certainly," replied drek, obligingly. "catinka is innocent, although, as you see, the evidence against her is very strong. now we come to you, mr. lovel."

"oh," said that young man, ironically, "and how do you intend to prove my guilt?"

"i am not presuming your guilt," said the inspector. "i merely intend to state the evidence against you."

"i am all attention," said lovel.

"well, sir, to put it briefly, you love this girl; you are with her at the hour of the murder; you set up a false alibi; you do everything to bring suspicion of guilt on yourself."

"but i am innocent."

"we will presume so for the moment," replied the inspector, coolly; "but you must know, mr. lovel, that beyond your bare word we have no proof that; you did not kill the girl."

"drek!" lovel jumped to his feet with almost a shriek. "you don't say that i killed milly?"

"going by the evidence----"

"hang the evidence! isn't it stronger against herne and chaskin? did you find my handkerchief, bloodstained? did you discover a pistol with my name on it?"

"no; but some lawyers might say that you stole the pistol out of chaskin's room to inculpate him in a projected crime; also, that you took herne's handkerchief out of his pocket when he was in a trance, and dropped it into the blood to get evidence against him. oh, i don't say that you are guilty, mr. lovel, but you must admit that the evidence is strong. you think that mr. chaskin killed the girl; mexton here inclines to think that mr. herne is guilty; but the evidence against the two is no stronger than that against you. a lawyer could build up a powerful----"

"stop! stop!" cried lovel, sitting down. "stop! you will make me believe that i killed the poor girl after all!"