Explore "The Sealed Message" by Fergus Hume on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
There was an absolute silence for a few moments. What with one accusation and another, Inspector Morgan's brain was reeling. Gerald could only stare in blank amazement at the negro, who declared so positively that Mrs. Berch was guilty of a cowardly murder. As for the accused woman, she put aside her weeping daughter gently and faced the police boldly. Tod and Rebb and Arnold were silent out of sheer astonishment. Haskins had thought Geary guilty: Arnold had believed Rebb to be the doer of the deed: Tod deemed that Mrs. Crosbie had struck the blow: but not one of the three ever fancied that Mrs. Berch was the mysterious assassin of the unfortunate Italian.
"Ask this man," said Mrs. Berch harshly, to Morgan, and pointing towards Geary. "Ask him on what grounds he makes such an accusation. My daughter and I certainly were at Belldown, and drove on past Leegarth, intending to call on Major Rebb at the Devon Maid. But our car broke down and we were obliged to stop in a cottage for the night. I can prove an alibi."