denied it sure enough said grimly before he died told me he had her to speak what more did the count reveal to you mrs � the conspiracy yes he said he d found mark hiding at half mad with and had taken him up to mrs clear s where it seems he went mad altogether so they locked him up as her husband in a lunatic asylum also told me that he had seen michael clear on the stage and that as he was so like mark and was likely to die of drink and consumption he got him to play the part of mark in square under the name of mrs clear visited her husband there by o the silent house climbing over a back fence and getting down a cellar somehow i know that said i it was mrs clear s shadow i saw on the blind she was fighting with her husband and when i rang the bell they were both so alarmed that they left the house by the back way and got into street then mrs clear went home and the man himself came round into the square by the front way that was how i met him i wondered how people were in the house during his absence mrs clear told me all did she say why her husband made you examine the house asked no but i expect he made me do so that i should not have my suspicions about that back entrance but mrs when confessed that your husband was alive why did you not tell it to the world well got the assurance money you see said with shrewd and i thought the company would make a fuss and take it back � as i suppose they will now wanted me to him but i wasn t so bad as that i did not want to commit but i really held my tongue because told me who killed clear he knew then cried and denied it to me who killed the man did � the man who lived in street and who is at the bottom of the whole plot the silent house said furiously do you know where he is to be found tes said boldly i do but i m not going to tell where he why not because i don t want him punished but i do said angrily he is a wretch who ought to suffer very well said loudly and then make him suffer for this is your own father it was mark who killed michael clear i chapter link sets a trap in the course of their acquaintance had put up with a great deal from the little american owing to her position of but when she heard her the man she had ruined of murder the patience of miss gave way she rose quickly and walking over to where was shrinking in her chair in righteous indignation above the little woman you lie mrs she said in a low distinct voice with a flushed face and indignation in her eyes you know you lie i � i only repeat what told me rather alarmed by the attitude of her i m sure i hope mark didn t kill the man but said that he was in street for that purpose it is not true my father was in the asylum at indeed he wasn t � not at the time clear was killed protested he was not put into the asylum until at least two weeks after christmas is that not so mr it is so assented gravely but even the silent house admitting so much it is impossible to believe that mr was in street for many months before christmas he was in charge of mrs clear at so said replied but he used to get away from mrs clear at times and had to be brought back he wandered when he got the chance said with hesitation i admit as much well then when he was not at he used to live in street as found him out there and tried to get him to go back and he took mrs clear several times to the same place in order to persuade him to return to that was why mrs clear visited street oh mark played his part there as mr i guess there ain t no two questions about that finished triumphantly he is the you bet i don t believe it cried furiously why my father is too weak in the head to have the will let alone the courage to like that he is like a child in leading strings that s his cunning he s enough to pretend madness so that he won t be hanged it is impossible that can be said decidedly i agree with miss he is too weak and to carry out such a deed besides i don t see how you prove him guilty of the murder you do not even know that he could enter the silent house by the secret way the silent house i don t know anything about it except what count told me said and he said that as killed clear but you can easily prove if it s true or not how can we prove it asked coldly by laying a trap for mark you know � at least told me and i suppose mrs clear told you � that she with mark � i mean � in the agony column of the daily telegraph by means of a yes i know that but she hasn t received any answer yet of course not replied with triumph because � that s mark you know � is in the asylum and can t answer her this is all nonsense broke in impatient of this spinning i don t believe a word of s story if lived in street as why should mrs clear visit him to 