“I have passed as William Rawton.”

The doctor started.

“You haven’t got the right sow by the ear as yet, doctor,” observed the gipsy, with the most admirable self-possession. “Him as you call Will Rawton was drowned years agone in Harcott’s millstream.”

“Audacious liar!” exclaimed Bourne, in a fury; “think not to disprove your identity.”

“I don’t intend to do so; but, as I observed before, you’ve got the wrong pig by the ear.”

“Then you are not William Rawton?”

“I have passed as him—​that’s all.”

The doctor made no answer to this. He quietly walked into an adjoining room, without even so much as uttering a word. Presently he returned with something in his hand.

It was a miniature.

“Look at this,” he said, holding it before the gipsy.