Part 35 (1/2)
”Do you happen to have it with you?”
”No, sir. After the experience of my last call, I prefer not to bring it.”
”You can't produce it,” said James Grey, triumphantly.
”Why not?”
”Because you have no such doc.u.ment.”
”You are mistaken there.”
”I have the strongest reason for saying that this forged doc.u.ment, on which you so much rely, is no longer in your possession.”
”I should like to know your reason,” said Gilbert, struck by his uncle's significant manner.
”Then I will tell you. It is not in your possession, because _it is in mine_!”
”What do you mean, sir?” asked Gilbert, somewhat startled.
”Just what I say. I have obtained possession of the paper which you so artfully concocted, and pretended to be the dying statement of Jacob Morton.”
”What, did Mr. Ferguson give it to you?” asked Gilbert, amazed.
”Mr. Ferguson? What had he to do with it?”
”It is in his safe. I deposited it there, the morning after my interview with you.”
”That is a lie!” exclaimed Mr. Grey, in excitement. ”You placed it in your trunk.”
”Oh!” said Gilbert, as light dawned upon him, ”I understand you, now.
Before carrying it to Mr. Ferguson, I made a copy for reference, thinking, also, that you might want to look at it again. _That copy_ I left in my trunk; but the original is in Mr. Ferguson's safe.”
”I don't believe you,” said James Grey, furiously.
”It is perfectly true. I suppose that the young man who I hear called at my room one day in my absence, was your agent, and that he stole the paper.”
”Out of my room, you scoundrel!” roared James Grey, whose disappointment was in proportion to his former exultation. ”I defy you!”
Gilbert saw that it would be of no use to prolong the discussion. He bowed quietly, and left the room.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A SUDDEN DEPARTURE.
After James Grey's triumphant feeling that he had spiked the guns of his young adversary, the revulsion and disappointment of defeat were all the more disheartening. He would like to have believed his tale a false one, but that was not easy. On a closer inspection of the paper which Maurice Walton had brought to him, he discovered a water-mark in the paper showing that it had only been manufactured the year previous.
As Gilbert had been in Cincinnati three years, this, of course, was sufficient to show that the doc.u.ment could not be genuine.
”Who would have imagined the fellow so shrewd?” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed his uncle, pacing the room with hurried steps. ”He lost no time in locking up the paper. I'm afraid he's going to be a dangerous enemy.”