Page:Richard Marsh--The goddess a demon.djvu/104

92 "You men have been playing some trick on her. You shall pay for it dearly if you have!"

I caught her by the arm; she evincing a strong inclination to rush off to Imperial Mansions there and then.

"Miss Moore came through my bedroom window, at an early hour this morning, in—a curious condition."

"Your bedroom window! This morning! She must have been in a curious condition!"

"A man was murdered in the building about the same time that she appeared at the window. His set of chambers are on the same floor as mine; they communicate by the balcony along which she came. When she entered the cloak she wore was soaked in blood, and her hands were wet with it." Miss Adair drew back, staring at me with distended eyes.

"Man! Are you a man, or are you a devil? Do you dare to hint that Bessie, my Bessie Moore, could by any possibility be guilty of murder!"

"I simply state to you the facts. That she was in the dead man's room there is irrefutable evidence to show; that she had anything to do with his murder I do not for a moment believe—I am as convinced of her innocence as you can be. My theory is that she was an unwilling