"You were standing by Gerald's bed, looking upon him."
"How did you discover her? It never occurred to me to ask; were you not in the room also?"
"I certainly was. She broke the glass by pressing against it, as I thought at the time, but now I see she was struck. I rushed out and picked her up, and you came when I called."
"Exactly. And you both talked loudly out there."
"Because," said Evan, slowly, "therein lies the defect in our defense. I cannot swear you were in the room upon my own knowledge. I had been astounded by the likeness of Gerald to those who had been dear to me--I was absorbed. Then I heard you cry out, and found you in the yard." There was a long pause. Edward's heart began to beat with sledge-hammer violence.
"Then," he said with a strange voice, "as the case would be presented, I was found with the body of the woman; she had been murdered and I was the only one who had a motive. Is that it?"
"That is it." The young man arose and walked the porch in silence.
"But that is not all," said Gen. Evan. "If it were, I would have cabled you to go east from Paris. There is more. Is there any one on earth who could be interested in your disgrace or death?"
"None that I know of--that is, well, no; none that I know of. You remember Royson; we fought that out. He cannot cherish enmity against a man who fought him in an open field."
"You had been in Paris but a few days when one night as I sat here your friend Barksdale--great man that Barksdale; a trifle heady and confident, but true as steel--Barksdale came flying on his sorrel up the avenue and landed here.
"'General,' said he, 'I have discovered the most damnable plot that a man ever faced. All this scandal about Morgan is not newspaper sensation as you suppose, it is the first step in a great tragedy.' And then he went on to tell me that Gerald had invaded his room and shown him pictures of an open grave, the face of a dead woman and also the face of the man who opened that grave, drawn with every detail perfect. Gerald declared that he witnessed the disinterment and drew the scene from memory----"
"Hold a minute," said Edward; he was now on his feet, his hand uplifted to begin a statement; "and then--and then----"
