For some moments there was a dreadful silence, in which Jonah distinctly heard Miss Giltinan giving an order downstairs.

Slowly he looked from Clara to the bottle.

Again he stared at the frightened woman, and his mind leapt to a dreadful certainty.
"Come in, an' shut the door," he said.

His voice was little more than a whisper.
Clara obeyed him mechanically.
"Sit down," he added, putting the bottle on the table.
For a while each stared at the other, too stunned to move or speak.
Jonah's world had fallen about his ears, and Clara's dreams of wealth mocked at her and fled.
Suddenly, in the deadly silence, Jonah began to speak.
"So it was you, was it?
I never thought of that.

I wonder what brought yer 'ere just as I found this?
They say murder will out, an' I believe it now.