North felt sure he would be the next witness, and he was not mistaken.  Moxlow’s examination, however, was along lines 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 was not quite sure about the day, but it was either Monday or Tuesday of the preceding week.  And how often did the ashes from the fireplaces in Mr. North’s and Mr. Gilmore’s rooms find their way into the barrel?  Every morning he cleaned out the grates the first thing, and usually before Mr. North or Mr. Gilmore were up.