"This is most mysterious, most shocking! No wonder you are anxious to leave Cliffdene, where you so nearly met your death. But this must be sifted to the bottom at once, and the lunatic identified, for it could be no other than a lunatic. I will have the whole household summoned. We will question every servant closely!" cried Clarke eagerly, turning to ring the bell.
"Wait till I question you on the subject. Have you in your employ a woman with red hair?"
"What a question! But, no. My women servants are all gray-haired or black-haired, with one exception. That is Roma's maid, a pretty little blonde, with the palest flaxen curls."
He looked inquiringly at the doctor, who replied:
"After my struggle was over and I was able to light a lamp, I found entangled in my fingers some threads of hair--beautiful long strands of ruddy hair, copperish red in the full light."
He took an envelope from his breast, and drew from it a ruddy strand of long hair, holding it up to the light of the window, where it shone with a rich copper tint.
"You recognize the hair?" cried Doctor Jay.
"It is Roma's hair!" was the anguished answer.
"You thought so! Is the girl, then, a lunatic, or a fiend? And what motive could she have to take your life--an old man, who has never harmed her in his blameless life?" cried the host, in consternation.
Edmund Clarke had never been confronted with such a terrible problem of crime in his life. His face paled to an ashen hue, and his eyes almost glared as he stared helplessly at his friend.
"The girl must have overheard our conversation last night."
Mr. Clarke revolved the matter silently in his mind for a moment, then answered:
"Well, of course, not impossible, but quite improbable."
"Is there not a curtained alcove or anteroom next the library?"
"Yes; but why should the girl have suspected us--why concealed herself there to listen?"
"Heaven only knows, but it is possible that some accident brought her there--perhaps an errand of some kind--maybe to get medicine from me for her aching tooth. She caught a few words that aroused her curiosity, kept silence, and listened, overhearing the truth about herself."
"And the shock drove her mad," continued Doctor Jay. "Her resentment flamed against me for knowing so much of her low origin. In her first senseless fury she sought my life."