"I didn't know where the sundial was," interpolated Carrington, shivering.
"That's a lie!" snarled Mallien swiftly, "for on the first day I met you I took you round the garden and, among other things, pointed out the sundial. You buried the will there, and then sent an anonymous letter to Mrs. Beatson so that she might find it and avert suspicion from yourself. You believed that Rupert would buy your silence to keep the property, and, failing his doing so, you came to threaten me."
"And I do. You were at the Vicarage on that night?"
Carrington saw that he had said too much and glanced toward the door in the hope of getting away. But Rupert was between him and safety, and Rupert looked as stern and determined as a destroying angel. "You needn't think you will escape, Carrington," he said. "As you have sown, so you must reap."
"And your reaping will place a rope round your neck," said Mallien grimly. "You came to have me hanged, but you will go away under Lawson's escort to be hanged yourself. I was at the Vicarage on that night. I wanted to see Leigh about getting the will. But I did not leave my cottage until eleven, and by that time you had murdered Leigh."
"I did not! I did not!" and Carrington winced and cringed and shivered with all the courage oozing out of him.
"You did. It was you I struggled with in the avenue when you came out after burying the will under the sundial. You snatched at my watch-chain and got the opal in the matrix----"
"Yes," said Rupert, taking up the story, "and when we went to examine the hole where the will was buried, you dropped the opal when my back was turned and allowed me to find it, so that the blame might be thrown on Mallien."
"It's a lie," said Carrington, folding his arms and looking dogged, "and I wonder at you defending a man who is going to rob you of your property."
"I dare say you do wonder," retorted the Squire acidly. "Honest behavior is always a mystery to you. No wonder you followed Mrs. Beatson and induced me to do so, Carrington. You had written that anonymous letter to her and knew that she was going to find the will. Your plot was a very clever one, but it has failed completely."
"And I dare swear it has failed," said Tollart in his booming voice, "because the Squire is such an honest man."