“She made no answer—only fell fainting at my feet.
“When I got back to the house I found Murray alone in the dining-room, paying the closest attention to a second bottle of the ’54 Chateau Margaux, to better appreciate which the lamp had been brought in, so that he might examine the marvellous beauty of its colour.
“Charlie was closeted in the smoking-room with his farm bailiff; in short, the opportunity of an interview alone with Murray, that I so much wanted, presented itself. I was not slow to take advantage of it; and, flinging myself into an arm-chair close to him, poured out a glass of wine, and settled comfortably to my task.
“It was pretty plain that he was anything but pleased at the prospect of a tete-a-tete, and seemed not altogether easy in his chair.
“‘I was thinking of taking a stroll in the garden,’ he said, half rising from his chair.
“‘A pity to leave such excellent tipple,’ I replied; ‘besides, it’s rather chilly. ‘Do you know,’ I continued, ‘I have been thinking of that observation you made the other night, when I said we had met before, and, upon my word, I believe I was right after all. I have such a capital memory for faces that I cannot imagine myself mistaken.”
“‘Indeed,’ he laughed, roughly, ‘you seem to have great confidence in yourself; unfortunately, as I told you, in this instance you are mistaken.”
“‘Well, perhaps I am,’ was my answer, as I drew my chair a little nearer to his. “The strangest part of my error was that I fancied you were one of two men I defended at Reading some four years ago, for conspiring to cheat a young undergraduate out or his money by playing with loaded dice.’
“He was far too much on his guard to make any sign; he only said, with a smile, ‘You certainly paid me a great compliment.’ But I saw that he was drawing away his right hand, which had hitherto been resting on the table. ‘It was a remarkable case,’ I continued, ‘chiefly from the way in which the roguery was detected. The hand of the man who was manipulating the loaded dice was, as yours might be, on the table, to all appearances, in the most innocent manner possible’—with that, as if to give him ocular demonstration of the way in which the cheat had been effected, I took hold of his hand and held it on the table—‘when a stranger, who had been sitting at the further end of the room, came quickly to the side of the rogue, and in an instant more had pinned his hand with a carving-fork to the mahogany.’ I felt that I had carried the play on long enough, and quickly inserting my finger at the top of his glove, I tore it down the back. He jumped to his feet, and so did I. “You are the man,’ I said, ‘whose hand was so pinned to the table, and that scar is the evidence I should call, if it were necessary to prove it, Therefore, sit down and hear what else I have to say.’
“He glared viciously at me, lifted his fist as if he would have struck me, and then sank into his chair again.