to its last detail. You were not moved by a sudden passion. You
tortured your victim. It is inconceivable!"

"And yet true," said Kent.

He was looking at the stenographer's slim fingers as they put down
his words and Kedsty's. A bit of sunshine touched her bowed head,
and he observed the red lights in her hair. His eyes swept to
O'Connor, and in that moment the commander of N Division bent over
him, so close that his face almost touched Kent's, and he
whispered, in a voice so low that no one of the other four could
hear,

"KENT--YOU LIE!"

"No, it is true," replied Kent.

Kedsty drew back, again wiping the moisture from his forehead.

"I killed Barkley, and I killed him as I planned that he should
die," Kent went on. "It was my desire that he should suffer. The
one thing which I shall not tell you is WHY I killed him. But it
was a sufficient reason."

He saw the shuddering tremor that swept through the shoulders of
the girl who was putting down the condemning notes.

"And you refuse to confess your motive?"

"Absolutely--except that he had wronged me in a way that deserved