“He answered me, as usual, with sneers; but I saw that he felt somewhat apprehensive.  I wished to give him a little time to reflect upon a proposition I had made, and I left the library, intending to return later; but,” she added, slowly and significantly, “I was superseded by another visitor.”

“Explain your meaning,” said the coroner, briefly.

“My husband’s private secretary entered the library directly after I left.  Some thirty minutes later I passed down the corridor towards the library, and was startled to hear Mr. Mainwaring, in loud and excited 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.”