During the next few days there was the usual commotion in the Press that
follows the opening up of the secret records of a great and mysterious
crime.
It came as a tremendous surprise to David Hume-Frazer to learn how many
people were convinced of his innocence "all the time." Being the central
figure in the affair, he was compelled to remain at Beechcroft until
Capella and Ooma were interred, and the coroner's jury, at a deferred
inquest, had recorded their verdict that the wretched Japanese descendant
of the Scottish Jacobite was not only doubly a murderer, but guilty of the
heinous crime of _felo de se_.
Brett, in the interim, saw to the despatch of the Italian witnesses back
to Naples. These good people did not know why they had been brought to
England, but they returned to their sunny land fully persuaded that the
English were both very rich and very foolish.
Winter, in accordance with Brett's promise, secured a fresh holiday
towards the close of August, and had the supreme joy of shooting over a
well-stocked Scotch moor.
At last, one day in September, Brett was summoned to Whitby to assist at a
family conclave.
He found that Margaret was firm in her resolve never again to live at
Beechcroft. She and Robert intended to get married early in the New Year
and sail forthwith for the Argentine, where, with the help of his wife's
money, Robert Hume-Frazer could develop his magnificent estate.
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