Page 590 of 657

"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the

impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the

truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down,

so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were

the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in

their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his

cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should

retain her secret-the more so as the secret was a disgraceful

one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and

how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture

became a certainty.