Lister passed his hand across his forehead, and fell helplessly into a near chair. "You accuse me of murdering your father?" he said again.
"No, no;" she repeated feverishly, "but I saw you--you looked up--you wore the grey clothes, as you had done in the afternoon when father interrupted us."
"Bella! Bella! You must have been dreaming, or the drug----"
"I was not dreaming," she interrupted vehemently, "and I saw you before I drank the drugged tea. I called to you, and you looked up; but you entered the house without making any sign of recognition. Then I fell asleep, and--and--oh,--my dear"--she flung herself down at his feet and seized his hand. "What took place between my father and you? I'm sure you did not kill him. I am quite sure of that, and, remember, I held my tongue. Yes, I held----"
"Oh," groaned the young man, looking down into her agitated face. "I am losing my reason. You will shortly persuade me that I killed----"
"But you did not--you did not. Ah, never say that you did."
"No," said Lister shortly, and rose so suddenly as to let her fall, "and if you believe me to be a murderer, we had better part."
"I don't! I don't!" she wailed, stretching out her hands, as he strode towards the door. "Oh, Cyril, don't leave me. You are all I have."
Lister was in a white heat with rage, and stood fumbling at the door. But a backward glance at her pale face cooled him somewhat. He recognised that he was in the presence of some mystery, and that it was necessary for his own peace of mind, as for Bella's, to probe the mystery to the bottom. On the impulse of the moment he walked back, and lifting her, placed her again in the arm-chair. Then he knelt beside her, and took her hands. "Darling," he said, softly and firmly, "I swear to you, what I would not swear to any living creature, that I am innocent. If anyone but you had accused me, I should have----"
"Cyril! Cyril!" She wreathed her arms round his neck, "I only fancied, but I really did not think that----"
He removed her arms. "You should believe in my innocence in the face of all evidence," he said sternly.
He frowned. "That certainly is puzzling; still, the drug----"
"I saw you enter the house before I drunk the tea," she protested. "I told you that before."