He felt as powerless as a dreamer in the grip of a nightmare.

CHAPTER XXVI.

CONVICTED.

When Strange finished there was a significant silence.  They were waiting for Ambrose to speak.  Stiffening himself he told his story as manfully as he could.  Conscious of its weakness he wore a hang-dog air which contrasted unfavorably with Strange’s seeming candor.

No comment was made upon it.  Ambrose could feel their unexpressed sneers like goads in the raw flesh.  Only Colina gave no sign.  Macfarlane turned to her for instructions.

She contrived to maintain her proud and stony air up to the moment she was obliged to speak.  But her self-command went out with her shuddering voice.  “I—­I don’t know what to say,” she whispered tremblingly.

“Surely there can be no question here!” cried Strange with a voice full of reproachful indignation.  “I have served Mr. Gaviller faithfully for nearly thirty years.  This man’s whole aim has been to ruin him!”

“This is the tone I should be taking instead of letting him run me out,” Ambrose thought dispassionately, as if it were somebody else.  But he remained dumb.

“What earthly reason could I have for trying to injure my benefactor?” cried Strange.  His voice broke artistically on the final word.  “You all know what I think of him.  Your suspicions hurt me!”

Macfarlane crossed over and clapped him on the shoulder.  Colina kept her eyes down.  She was very pale; her lips were compressed and her hands clenched at her sides.

Ambrose bestirred himself to his own defense.  “Let me ask a question,” he said quietly to Strange.  “You say when you opened the door you saw me with my hands on Mr. Gaviller.  How could you see me?”

“With my electric flash-light,” Strange instantly answered.

“That’s a lie,” said Ambrose.  “The flash-light was mine.  I can prove it by a dozen witnesses.”

“Produce it,” said Strange sneering.

“You knocked it out of my hand,” said Ambrose.  “It will be found somewhere on the floor up-stairs.”

Strange drew his hand out of his pocket.  “On the contrary, it is here,” he said.  “And it has never been out of my possession.  As to your identifying it, there are dozens like it in the country.  It is the style all the stores carry.”

Ambrose shrugged.  “I’ve nothing more to say,” he said.  “The man is a liar.  The truth is bound to come out in the end.”

The white men paid little attention to this, but it stung Strange to reply.  “If Mr. Gaviller were able to speak he’d soon decide between us!”

At that moment, as if Strange’s speech had evoked, him, they heard Giddings in the hall.

“Has he spoken?” they asked breathlessly.

Colina kept her eyes hidden.

Giddings nodded.  “He sent me down-stairs to order Macfarlane to arrest
Doane.”