n unequal struggle. But he
recovered his courage speedily, and quietly observed:

"The register may have been closed by a passing foot. I have known of
stranger coincidences than that."

"Mr. Van Burnam," asked the Coroner, as if weary of subterfuges and
argument, "have you considered the effect which this highly
contradictory evidence of yours is likely to have on your reputation?"

"I have."

"And are you ready to accept the consequences?"

"If any especial consequences follow, I must accept them, sir."

"When did you lose the keys which you say you have not now in your
possession? This morning you asserted that you did not know; but perhaps
this afternoon you may like to modify that statement."

"I lost them after I left my wife shut up in my father's house."

"Soon?"

"Very soon."

"How soon?"

"Within an hour, I should judge."

"How do you know it was so soon?"

"I missed them at once."

"Where were you when you missed them?"

"I don't know; somewhere. I was walking the streets, as I have said. I
don't remember just where I was when I thrust my hands into my pocket
and found the keys gone."

"You do not?"

"No."

"But it was within an hour after leaving the house?"

"Yes."

"Very good; the keys have been found."

The witness started, started so violently that his teeth came together
with a click loud enough to be heard over the whole room.

"Have they?" said he, with an effort at nonchalance which, however,
failed to deceive any one who noticed his change of color. "_You_ can
tell me, then, where I lost them."

"They were found," said the Coroner, "in their usual place above your
brother's desk in Duane Street."

"Oh!" murmured the witness, utterly taken aback or appearing so. "I
cannot account for their being found in the office. I was so sure I
dropped them in the street."

"I did not think you could account for it," quietly observed the
Coroner. And without another word he dismissed the witness, who
staggered to a seat as remote as possible from the one where he had
previously been sitting between his father and brother.

XV.

A RELUCTANT WITNESS.

A pause of decided duration now followed; an exasperating pause which
tried even me, much as I pride myself upon my patience. There seemed to
be some hitch in regard to the next witness. The Coroner sent Mr. Gryce
into the neighboring room more than once, and finally, when the general
uneasiness seemed on the point of ex