'I will keep quiet no longer,' boldly rising and facing Vandeloup, with her hands clenched at her sides; 'I have tried to shield you faithfully through all your wickedness, but now that you accuse me of committing a crime, which accusation you know is false, I accuse you, Gaston Vandeloup, and your accomplice, yonder,' wheeling round and pointing to Pierre, who shrank away, 'of murdering Randolph Villiers, at the Black Hill, Ballarat, for the sake of a nugget of gold he carried.'

Vandeloup looked at her disdainfully.

'You are mad,' he said, in a cold voice; 'this is the raving of a lunatic; there is no proof of what you say; it was proved conclusively that myself and Pierre were asleep at our hotel while M. Villiers was with Jarper at two o'clock in the morning.'

'I know that was proved,' she retorted, 'and by some jugglery on your part; but, nevertheless, I saw you and him,' pointing again to Pierre, 'murder Villiers.'

'You saw it,' echoed Vandeloup, with a disbelieving smile; 'tell me how?'

'Ah!' she cried, making a step forward, 'you do not believe me, but I tell you it is true--yes, I know now who the two men were following Madame Midas as she drove away: one was her husband, who wished to rob her, and the other was Pierre, who, acting upon your instructions, was to get the gold from Villiers should he succeed in getting it from Madame. You left me a few minutes afterwards, but I, with my heart full of love--wretched woman that I was--followed you at a short distance, unwilling to lose sight of you even for a little time. I climbed down among the rocks and saw you seat yourself in a narrow part of the path.

Curiosity then took the place of love, and I watched to see what you were going to do. Pierre--that wretch who cowers in the corner--came down the path and you spoke to him in French. What was said I did not know, but I guessed enough to know you meditated some crime. Then Villiers came down the path with the nugget in its box under his arm.

I recognised the box as the one which Madame Midas had brought to our house. When Villiers came opposite you you spoke to him; he tried to pa.s.s on, and then Pierre sprang out from behind the rock and the two men struggled together, while you seized the box containing the gold, which Villiers had let fall, and watched the struggle. You saw that Villiers, animated by despair, was gradually gaining the victory over Pierre, and then you stepped in--yes; I saw you s.n.a.t.c.h Pierre's knife from the back of his waist and stab Villiers in the back. Then you put the knife into Pierre's hand, all b.l.o.o.d.y, as Villiers fell dead, and I fled away.'

She stopped, breathless with her recital, and Vandeloup, pale but composed, would have answered her, when a cry from Pierre startled them.

He had come close to them, and was looking straight at Kitty.

'My G.o.d!' he cried; 'then I am innocent?'

'You!' shrieked Kitty, falling back on her bed; 'who are you?'

The man pulled his hat off and came a step nearer.

'I am Randolph Villiers!'

Kitty shrieked again and covered her face with her hands, while Vandeloup laughed in a mocking manner, though his pale face and quivering lip told that his mirth was a.s.sumed.

'Yes,' said Villiers, throwing his hat on the floor of the cell, 'it was Pierre Lemaire, and not I, who died. The struggle took place as you have described, but he,' pointing to Vandeloup, 'wishing to get rid of Pierre for reasons of his own stabbed him, and not me, in the back. He thrust the knife into my hand, and I, in my blind fury, thought that I had murdered the dumb man. I was afraid of being arrested for the murder, so, as suggested by Vandeloup, I changed clothes with the dead man and wrapped my own up in a bundle. We hid the body and the nugget in one of the old mining shafts and then came down to Ballarat. I was similar to Pierre in appearance, except that my chin was shaven. I went down to the Wattle Tree Hotel as Pierre after leaving my clothes outside the window of the bedroom which Vandeloup pointed out to me. Then he went to the theatre and told me to rejoin him there as Villiers. I got my own clothes into the room, dressed again as myself; then, locking the door, so that the people of the hotel might suppose that Pierre slept, I jumped out of the window of the bedroom and went to the theatre. There I played my part as you know, and while we were behind the scenes Mr Wopples asked me to put out the gas in his room. I did so, and took from his dressing-table a black beard, in order to disguise myself as Pierre till my beard had grown. We went to supper, and then I parted with Jarper at two o'clock in the morning, and went back to the hotel, where I climbed into the bedroom through the window and rea.s.sumed Pierre's dress for ever. It was by Vandeloup's advice I pretended to be drunk, as I could not go to the Pactolus, where my wife would have recognised me.

Then I, as the supposed Pierre, was discharged, as you know. Vandeloup, aping friendship, drew the dead man's salary and bought clothes and a box for me. In the middle of one night I still disguised as Pierre, slipped out of the window, and went up to Black Hill, where I found the nugget and brought it down to my room at the Wattle Tree Hotel. Then Vandeloup brought in the box with my clothes, and we packed the nugget in it, together with the suit I had worn at the time of the murder.

Following his instructions, I came down to Melbourne, and there disposed of the nugget--no need to ask how, as there are always people ready to do things of that sort for payment. When I was paid for the nugget, and I only got eight hundred pounds, the man who melted it down taking the rest, I had to give six hundred to Vandeloup, as I was in his power as I thought, and dare not refuse in case he should denounce me for the murder of Pierre Lemaire. And now I find that I have been innocent all the time, and he has been frightening me with a shadow. He, not I, was the murderer of Pierre Lemaire, and you can prove it.'

During all this recital, which Kitty listened to with staring eyes, Vandeloup had stood quite still, revolving in his own mind how he could escape from the position in which he found himself. When Villiers finished his recital he raised his head and looked defiantly at both his victims.

'Fate has placed the game in your hands,' he said coolly, while they stood and looked at him; 'but I'm not beaten yet, my friend. May I ask what you intend to do?'

'Prove my innocence,' said Villiers, boldly.

'Indeed!' sneered Gaston, 'at my expense, I presume.'

'Yes! I will denounce you as the murderer of Pierre Lemaire.'

'And I,' said Kitty, quickly, 'will prove Villiers' innocence.'

Vandeloup turned on her with all the lithe, cruel grace of a tiger.

'First you must prove your own innocence,' he said, in a low, fierce voice. 'Yes; if you can hang me for the murder of Pierre Lemaire, I can hang you for the murder of Selina Sprotts; yes, though I know you did not do it.'

'Ah!' said Kitty, quickly, springing forward, 'you know who committed the crime.'

'Yes,' replied Vandeloup, slowly, 'the man who committed the crime intended to murder Madame Midas, and he was the man who hated her and wished her dead--her husband.'

'I?' cried Villiers, starting forward, 'you lie.'

Vandeloup wheeled round quickly on him, and, getting close to him, spoke rapidly.

'No, I do not lie,' he said, in a concentrated voice of anger; 'you followed me up to the house of M. Meddlechip, and hid among the trees on the lawn to watch the house; you saw Bebe throw the bottle out, and picked it up; then you went to St Kilda and, climbing over the wall, committed the crime, as she,' pointing to Kitty, 'saw you do; I met you in the street near the house after you had committed it, and see,'

plunging his hand into Villiers' pocket, 'here is the bottle which contained the poison,' and he held up to Kitty the bottle with the two red bands round it, which she had thrown away.

'It is false!' cried Villiers, in despair, seeing that all the evidence was against him.

'Prove it, then,' retorted Vandeloup, knocking at the door to summon the warder. 'Save your own neck before you put mine in danger.'

The door opened, and the warder appeared. Kitty and Villiers gazed horror-struck at one another, while Vandeloup, without another word, rapidly left the cell. The warder beckoned to Villiers to come, and, with a deep sigh, he obeyed.

'Where are you going?' asked Kitty, as he moved towards the door.

'Going?' he repeated, mechanically. 'I am going to see my wife.'

He left the cell, and when he got outside the gaol he saw the hansom with Vandeloup in it driving rapidly away. Villiers looked at the retreating vehicle in despair. 'My G.o.d,' he murmured, raising his face to the blue sky with a frightful expression of despair; 'how am I to escape the clutches of this devil?'

CHAPTER XVI

BE SURE THY SIN WILL FIND THEE OUT

Madame Midas was a remarkably plucky woman, but it needed all her pluck and philosophy to bear up against the terrible calamities which were befalling her. Her faith in human nature was completely destroyed, and she knew that all the pleasure of doing good had gone out of her life.

The discovery of Kitty's baseness had wounded her deeply, and she found it difficult to persuade herself that the girl had not been the victim of circ.u.mstances. If Kitty had only trusted her when she came to live with her all this misery and crime would have been avoided, for she would have known Madame Midas would never have married Vandeloup, and thus would have had no motive for committing the crime. Regarding Vandeloup's pretensions to her hand, Mrs Villiers laughed bitterly to herself. After the misery of her early marriage it was not likely she was going to trust herself and her second fortune again to a man's honour. She sighed as she thought what her future life must be. She was wealthy, it was true, but amid all her riches she would never be able to know the meaning of friendship, for all who came near her now would have some motive in doing so, and though Madame Midas was anxious to do good with her wealth, yet she knew she could never expect grat.i.tude in return. The comedy of human life is admirable when one is a spectator; but ah! the actors know they are acting, and have to mask their faces with smiles, restrain the tears which they would fain let flow, and mouth witty sayings with breaking hearts. Surely the most bitter of all feelings is that cynical disbelief in human nature which is so characteristic of our latest civilization.

Madame Midas, however, now that Melbourne was so hateful to her, determined to leave it, and sent up to Mr Calton in order to confer with him on the subject. Calton came down to St Kilda, and was shown into the drawing-room where Mrs Villiers, calm and impenetrable looking as ever, sat writing letters. She arose as the barrister entered, and gave him her hand.

'It was kind of you to come so quickly,' she said, in her usual quiet, self-contained manner; 'I wish to consult you on some matters of importance.'

'I am at your service, Madame,' replied Calton, taking a seat, and looking keenly at the marble face before him; 'I am glad to see you looking so well, considering what you have gone through.'

Mrs Villiers let a shadowy smile flit across her face.

'They say the Red Indian becomes utterly indifferent to the torture of his enemies after a certain time,' she answered, coldly; 'I think it is the same with me. I have been deceived and disillusionized so completely that I have grown utterly callous, and nothing now can move me either to sorrow or joy.'

'A curious answer from a curious woman,' thought Calton, glancing at her as she sat at the writing-table in her black dress with the knots of violet ribbons upon it; 'what queer creatures experience makes us.'

Madame Midas folded her hands loosely on the table, and looked dreamily out of the open French window, and at the trellis covered with creeping plants beyond, through which the sun was entering in pencils of golden light. Life would have been so sweet to her if she had only been content to be deceived like other people; but then she was not of that kind.

Faith with her was a religion, and when religion is taken away, what remains?--nothing.

'I am going to England,' she said, abruptly, to Calton, rousing herself out of these painful reflections.

'After the trial, I presume?' observed Calton, slowly.