Shelton."
"I knew it," murmured his lordship in a low tone. "But pray continue,
Mr. Harker."
"The double forgery," went on the dry voice, "I now know was executed by
my employer's hand; but instructions were given in the name of the firm
to charge Mr. Adrien Leroy with the crime. The particular day was fixed
on the twenty-second simply because my master had found out that Mr.
Leroy had been somewhere else, and in the company of a lady whom he knew
Mr. Leroy would never betray. But this part you already know from
yesterday's trial. False evidence was brought to bear, in the statement
that your son had been in our office, and it was only owing to a plea of
illness that I escaped being made a witness also. This was but one
forgery, and I have here large numbers of bills all forged by the same
hand, and which, if presented, will amount to more than the sale of
three such estates as this could liquidate."
Lord Barminster uttered an exclamation of horror.
"I will leave them here with you," went on Mr. Harker, "and when the
scoundrel has been unmasked, you need have no fear of any future danger.
In my master's chain of villainy there was a single flaw; but that flaw
has broken the whole chain.
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