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.