'I never signed it,' said Dolly, standing with his hands in his pockets and interrupting his father.
'Nobody says you did, sir,' rejoined the father with an angry voice. 'If you will condescend to listen we may perhaps arrive at the truth.'
'But somebody has said that I did. I've been told that Mr Bideawhile says so.'
'No, Mr Longestaffe; no. We have never said so. We have only said that we had no reason for supposing the letter to be other than genuine. We have never gone beyond that.'
'Nothing on earth would have made me sign it,' said Dolly. 'Why should I have given my property up before I got my money? I never heard such a thing in my life.'
The father looked up at the lawyer and shook his head, testifying as to the hopelessness of his son's obstinacy. 'Now, Mr Longestaffe,' continued the lawyer, 'let us see where you put the letter.'
Then the father very slowly, and with much dignity of deportment, opened the drawer,--the second drawer from the top, and took from it a bundle of papers very carefully folded and docketed, 'There,' said he, 'the letter was not placed in the envelope but on the top of it, and the two were the two first documents in the bundle.' He went on to say that as far as he knew no other paper had been taken away. He was quite certain that he had left the drawer locked. He was very particular in regard to that particular drawer, and he remembered that about this time Mr Melmotte had been in the room with him when he had opened it, and,--as he was certain,--had locked it again. At that special time there had been, he said, considerable intimacy between him and Melmotte. It was then that Mr Melmotte had offered him a seat at the Board of the Mexican railway.
'Of course he picked the lock, and stole the letter,' said Dolly. 'It's as plain as a pikestaff. It's clear enough to hang any man.'
'I am afraid that it falls short of evidence, however strong and just may be the suspicion induced,' said the lawyer. 'Your father for a time was not quite certain about the letter.'
'He thought that I had signed it,' said Dolly.
'I am quite certain now,' rejoined the father angrily. 'A man has to collect his memory before he can be sure of anything.'
'I am thinking you know how it would go to a jury.'