ted tones, denouncing some one as a liar and an
impostor. The reply was low, in a voice trembling with rage, but
I caught the words, 'You are a liar and a thief! If you had your
deserts, you would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported
to the wilds of Australia!' There was much more in the same tone,
but so low I could not distinguish the words, and, thinking Mr.
Mainwaring was likely to be occupied for some time, I immediately
retired to my room."

"Was the voice of the second speaker familiar to you?" inquired
Dr. Westlake, in the breathless silence that followed this statement.

A half smile, both cunning and cruel, played around the lips of the
witness, as she answered, with peculiar emphasis and with a ring
of triumph in her tone,--

"The voice was somewhat disguised, but it was distinctly recognizable
as that of Mr. Scott, the private secretary."

To Scott himself, these words came with stunning force, not so much
for the accusation which they conveyed, as that her recital of those
words spoken within the library seemed but the repetition of words
which had rung in his brain the preceding night, as, alone in his
room, he had, in imagination, confronted his employer with the proof
of his guilt which that afternoon's search had brought to light.
His fancy had vividly portrayed the scene in which he would arraign
Hugh Mainwaring as a thief, and would himself, in turn, be denounced
as an impostor until he should have established his claims by the
indubitable evidence now in his possession. Such a scene bad in
reality been enacted,--those very words had been spoken,--and,
for an instant, it seemed to Scott as though he had been,
unconsciously, one of the actors.

The general wonder and consternation with which he was now regarded
by the crowd quickly recalled him, however, to the present
situation, and awakened within him a sudden, fierce resentment,
though he remained outwardly calm.

"At that time," continued the coroner, "were you of the opinion
that it was Mr. Scott whom you heard thus addressing Mr.
Mainwaring?"

"Yes, I had every reason to believe it was he, and I have now
additional reasons for the same belief."

"Are these additional reasons founded on your own personal
knowledge, or on the information of others?"

"Upon information received from various members of the household."

"Did you see Mr. Scott leave the library?"

"I did not."

"Can you state about what time you heard this