ines quite different from
those he had anticipated. The prosecuting attorney's questions wholly
concerned themselves with the sale of the gas bonds to McBride; each
detail of that transaction was gone into, but a very positive sense of
relief had come to North. This was not what he had expected and dreaded,
and he answered Moxlow's queries frankly, eagerly, for where his
relations with the old merchant were under discussion he had nothing to
hide. Finally Moxlow turned from him with a characteristic gesture.

"That's all," he said.

Again his glance wandered over the room. It became fixed on a grayish
middle-aged man seated at Gilmore's elbow.

"Thomas Nelson," he called.

This instantly revived North's apprehensions. Nelson was the janitor of
the building in which he had roomed. He asked himself what could be
Moxlow's purpose in examining him.

There was just one thing North feared, and that--the bringing of Evelyn
Langham's name into the case. How this could happen he did not see, but
the law dug its own channels and sometimes they went far enough afield.
While this was passing through his mind, Nelson was sworn and Moxlow
began his examination.

Mr. Nelson was in charge of the building on the corner of Main Street
and the Square,--he referred to the brick building on the southeast
corner? The witness answered in the affirmative, and Moxlow's next
question brought out the fact that for some weeks the building had had
only two tenants; John North and Andrew Gilmore.

What was the exact nature of his duties? The witness could hardly say;
he was something of a carpenter for one thing, and at the present time
was making certain repairs in the vacant store-room on the ground floor.
Did he take care of the entrance and the two halls? Yes. Had he
anything to do with the rooms of the two tenants on the first floor?
Yes. What?

Sometimes he swept and dusted them and he was supposed to look after the
fires. He carried up the coal, Moxlow suggested? Yes. He carried out the
ashes? Again yes. Moxlow paused for a moment. Was he the only person who
ever carried out the ashes? Yes. What did he do with the ashes? He
emptied them into a barrel that stood in the yard back of the building.
And what became of them then? Whenever necessary, the barrel was carted
away and emptied. How long did it usually take to fill the barrel? At
this season of the year one or two weeks. When was it emptied last? A
week ago, perhaps, the witness