Alison's heart beat violently at the ordeal before her of speaking to

the genuineness of the letter. She had seen and suspected that to her

brother-in-law, but she could not guess whether the flaws in that to

Mr. Beauchamp would be equally palpable, and doubt and anxiety made her

scarcely able to look at it steadily. To her great relief, however, she

was able to detect sufficient variations to justify her assertion that

it was not authentic, and she was able to confirm her statement by

comparison of the writing with that of a short, indignant denial of

all knowledge of the transaction, which Harry Beauchamp had happily

preserved, though little regarding it at the time. She also showed the

wrong direction, with the name of the place misspelt, according to

her own copy of her sister-in-law's address, at the request of Maddox

himself, and pointed out that a letter to Ermine from her brother

bore the right form. The seal upon that to Mr. Beauchamp she likewise

asserted to be the impression of one which her brother had lost more

than a year before the date of the letter.

"Indeed, sir," said the accused, fuming to Mr. Grey, "this is an

exceedingly hard case. Here am I, newly acquitted, after nearly six

weeks' imprisonment, on so frivolous a charge that it has been dismissed

without my even having occasion to defend myself, or to call my own most

respectable witnesses as to character, when another charge is brought

forward against me in a name that there has been an unaccountable desire

to impose on me. Even if I were the person that this gentleman supposes,

there is nothing proved. He may very possibly have received a forged

letter, but I perceive nothing to fix the charge upon the party he calls

Maddox. Let me call in my own witnesses, who had volunteered to come

down from Bristol, and you will be convinced how completely mistaken the

gentleman is."

To this Mr. Grey replied that the case against him was not yet closed,

and cautioning him to keep his own witnesses back; but he was urgent to

be allowed to call them at once, as it was already late, and they were

to go by the six o'clock train. Mr. Grey consented, and a messenger was

sent in search of them. Mr. Beauchamp looked disturbed. "What say you

to this, Colin?" he asked, uneasily. "That man's audacity is enough to

stagger one, and I only saw him three times at the utmost."

"Never fear," said Colin, "delay is all in our favour." At the same time

Colin left them, and with him went some hope and confidence, leaving all

to feel awkward and distressed during the delay that ensued, the accused

expatiating all the time on the unreasonableness of bringing up an

offence committed so many years ago, in the absence of the only witness

who could prove the whole story, insisting, moreover, on his entire

ignorance of the names of either Maddox or Williams.




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