hat?"

"I did not!"

"Have you ever seen this will, this document, before?"

"Never!"

Mr. Halfpenny drew the will towards himself with an impatient movement
and began to replace it in the large envelope from which it had been
taken.

"In short, you never assisted at the execution of this document--never
saw Jacob Herapath make any will--never witnessed any signature of his
to this?" he said testily. "That's what you really say--what you
affirm?"

"Just so," replied Burchill. "You apprehend me exactly."

"Yet you have just heard what Mr. Tertius says! What do you say to that,
Mr. Burchill?"

"I say nothing to that, Mr. Halfpenny. I have nothing to do with what
Mr. Tertius says. I have answered your questions."

"Mr. Tertius says that he and you saw Jacob Herapath sign that document,
saw each other sign it! What you say now gives Mr. Tertius the direct
lie, and----"

"Pardon me, Mr. Halfpenny," interrupted Burchill quietly. "Mr. Tertius
may be under some strange misapprehension; Mr. Tertius may be suffering
from some curious hallucination. What I say is--I did not see the late
Jacob Herapath sign that paper; I did not sign it myself; I did not see
Mr. Tertius sign it; I have never seen it before!"

Mr. Halfpenny made a little snorting sound, got up from his chair,
picked up the envelope which contained the will, walked over to his
safe, deposited the envelope in some inner receptacle, came back,
produced his snuff-box, took a hearty pinch of its contents, snorted
again, and looked hard at Barthorpe.

"I don't see the least use in going on with this!" he said. "We have
heard what Mr. Tertius, as one witness, says; we have heard what Mr.
Frank Burchill, as the other witness, says. Mr. Tertius says that he saw
the will executed in Mr. Burchill's presence; Mr. Burchill denies that
in the fullest and most unqualified fashion. Why waste more time? We had
better separate."

But Barthorpe laughed, maliciously.

"Scarcely!" he said. "You brought us here. It was your own proposal. I
assented. And now that we are here, and you have heard--what you have
heard--I'm going to have my say. You have gone, all along, Mr.
Halfpenny, on the assumption that the piece of paper which you have just
replaced in your safe is a genuine will. That's what you've said--I
believe it's what you say now. I don't say so!"

"What do you say it is, then?" demanded Mr. Halfpenny.

Barthorpe slightly lowered his voice.

"I say it's a