He told
Birchill to break open the desk, and explained to him how to find the
spring of the secret drawer."
"What a damned cunning scoundrel he is," exclaimed Rolfe, in unwilling
admiration of the completeness of Hill's scheme. "Don't you think, Mr.
Crewe, that, after all, he may be the actual murderer--that he told you a
lot of lies just as he did to us? Holymead in his address to the jury
made out a pretty strong case against him."
"No one knows better than Holymead that Hill did not commit the
murder," said Crewe. "Hill is an incorrigible liar, but he has no nerve
for murder."
"Did he put the letters back?" asked Rolfe. "He told me that Mrs.
Holymead stole them the day after the murder was discovered. But he is
such a liar--"
"I believe he spoke the truth in that case," said Crewe. "He told me he
put the letters back in the secret drawer the night after the murder,
when he went to Riversbrook to report himself to Chippenfield. He put
them back because he was afraid that if the police found them in his
possession, they would think he had a hand in the murder. His idea was to
remove them from the secret drawer after the excitement about the murder
died down, and then blackmail Mrs.
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