Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/249

 he was innocent, and I believed him, but I have my own theory of what really did happen, and I believe I'm right."

"I am not asking you to tell me that," said Sir Ian, with a certain impatience. "I want to know why, and for how long, you and Barr were in the Tower together."

"He wrote me letters to the post-office in the village. Only the postmistress knew, I think. As a girl she was in my father's parish, and he was very good to her and her family. She was grateful; and Ian and I owe it to her that the gossip about his being seen the day—of the murder, was hushed up. Her daughter saw him, but afterward the mother induced her to forget, and it never could be found out where the rumour started. He wrote me that he would come and say good-bye. It was a long time since we had seen each other. We'd only met once before, since he gave up the stewardship. That time it was in the Tower, too, and we chose that place because it was so quiet and remote—hardly any one ever went there—and because it was the best for us, in many ways. Ian had the key."

"Oh! How did he come to have one? The key that was lent him once, he gave back when he finished his work."

"He had the key for a very simple reason. He told me all about it. One day he lost the borrowed