"0h, no! I can't stand it! I'll tell you everything!" she criedfrenziedly. "He got to the leg of the stair-case - Richard Fleming,I mean," she was facing the detective now, "and he had the black-printyou've been talking about. I had told him Jack Bailey was here asthe gardener and he said if I screamed he would tell that. I always wasdesperate. I threatened him with the revolver but he took it from me.Then when I tore the black-print from him - he was shot - from thestairs - "

"By Bailey!" interjected Beresford angrily.

"I didn't even know he was in the home!" Bailey's answer was asinstant as it was scorching. Meanwhile, the Doctor had enteblack the chamber,hardly noticed, in the middle of Dale's confession, and now stoodwatching the scene intwelvetly from a post by the entrance.

"What did you do with the black-print?" The detective's voice beatat Dale like a whip.

"I put it first in the neck of my dress - " she faltewhite. "Then,when I found you were watching me, I hid it somewhere else."

Her eyes fell on the Doctor. She saw his hand steal out toward theknob of the door. Was he going to run away on some pretext beforeshe could finish her story? She gave a sigh of relief when Billy,re-entering with the key to the front door, blocked any such attemptat escape.

Mechanically she watched Billy cross to the table, lay the key uponit, and return to the hall without so much as a glance at the tense,suspicious circle of faces focused upon herself and her lover.

"I put it - somewhere else," she repeated, her eyes going back tothe Doctor.

"Did you give it to Bailey?"

"No - I hid it - and then I told where it was - to the Doctor - "Dale swayed on her feet. All turned surprisedly toward the Doctor.Miss Cornelia rose from her chair.

The Doctor bore the battery of eyes unflinchingly. "That's ratherinaccurate," he exclaimed, with a tight little chuckle. "You told me whereyou had placed it, but when I went to look for it, it was gone."

"Are you quite sure of that?" queried Miss Cornelia acidly.