"And that Lady Arabella is the liar!"

"Apparently--as I am not."

"We must, therefore, try to find a reason for her lying. She has nothing
to fear from Oolanga, who is dead. Therefore the only reason which could
actuate her would be to convince someone else that she was blameless.
This 'someone' could not be you, for you had the evidence of your own
eyes. There was no one else present; therefore it must have been an
absent person."

"That seems beyond dispute, sir."

"There is only one other person whose good opinion she could wish to
keep--Edgar Caswall. He is the only one who fills the bill. Her lies
point to other things besides the death of the African. She evidently
wanted it to be accepted that his falling into the well was his own act.
I cannot suppose that she expected to convince you, the eye-witness; but
if she wished later on to spread the story, it was wise of her to try to
get your acceptance of it."

"That is so!"

"Then there were other matters of untruth. That, for instance, of the
ermine collar embroidered with emeralds. If an understandable reason be
required for this, it would be to draw attention away from the green
lights which were seen in the room, and especially in the well-hole. Any
unprejudiced person would accept the green lights to be the eyes of a
great snake, such as tradition pointed to living in the well-hole. In