"That I certainly did not."
"Then you know who did. Come, sir," Hurd became stern; "this boy Tray says he gave the opal brooch to you. And I believe he did. You would not have taken him into your office—a boy off the streets, and with a bad character at that—unless you wanted to bribe him to hold his tongue."
"I had no need to bribe," said Pash, gnawing his finger nails and rather cowed by this direct attack. "The boy did show me the opal brooch, and I took it from him to return to Norman."
"When did you receive it?" asked Hurd, pulling out his book. "Be careful, Mr. Pash, I'll take down what you say."
"I have nothing to conceal," said Pash, in quite an unnecessarily injured manner. "I had employed the boy on several errands, and he knew I was Norman's lawyer. On the evening of the sixth of July—"
"And the evening of the murder," said Hurd; "are you sure?"
"I'll take my oath on it. The boy told me that Mr. Beecot had met with an accident and that a blue velvet case containing a brooch had fallen out of his pocket."
"It was stolen," said Beecot, hastily.
"Tray was not such a fool as to tell me that," replied the lawyer, dryly; "he said that he picked the case up out of the mud, and took it home to his garret. His grandmother, who is a notorious thief, wanted to get it, and pawn it for drink, but Tray ran away with it and came to me about five o'clock. He gave me the brooch and asked me to take charge of it, as he expected to get money for it from Aaron Norman who wanted it."
"Tray overheard my conversation with Norman," said Paul, angrily, "and knew the brooch was mine—so did you, Mr. Pash."