'I can,' he answered, with an ugly look; 'and I will if you don't
keep a quiet tongue.'
'I will keep quiet no longer,' boldly rising and facing Vandeloup,
with her hands clenched at her sides; 'I have tried to shield you
faithfully through all your wickedness, but now that you accuse me
of committing a crime, which accusation you know is false, I accuse
you, Gaston Vandeloup, and your accomplice, yonder,' wheeling round
and pointing to Pierre, who shrank away, 'of murdering Randolph
Villiers, at the Black Hill, Ballarat, for the sake of a nugget of
gold he carried.'
Vandeloup looked at her disdainfully.
'You are mad,' he said, in a cold voice; 'this is the raving of a
lunatic; there is no proof of what you say; it was proved
conclusively that myself and Pierre were asleep at our hotel while
M. Villiers was with Jarper at two o'clock in the morning.'
'I know that was proved,' she retorted, 'and by some jugglery on
your part; but, nevertheless, I saw you and him,' pointing again to
Pierre, 'murder Villiers.'
'You saw it,' echoed Vandeloup, with a disbelieving smile; 'tell me
how?'
'Ah!' she cried, making a step forward, 'you do not believe me, but
I tell you it is true--yes, I know now who the two men were
following Madame Midas as she drove away: one was her husband, who
wished to rob her, and the other was Pierre, who, acting upon your
instructions, was to get the gold from Villiers should he succeed in
getting it from Madame.
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