"The front door?"
"Yes. But when I was going out I heard Sir Simon call over the stairs. He asked me to return. I closed the door and did so."
"Ah!" said Durham, making a note. "Mrs. Gilroy thought you had left the house. She said so in her diary. Then she came upstairs?"
"No," said Tolomeo, "she did not. I went back to the room. Sir Simon said he wanted me to be present, as he had a disagreeable interview. He made me hide behind a curtain. I did so. Then the door opened and Bernard entered."
"What!" Durham started from his seat. "That's impossible."
"Of course it is," rejoined the Italian, smiling; "but I assure you, signor, the man who entered I took to be Bernard. He was——"
"Michael, the son of Mrs. Gilroy. I know that."
"Ah! And how?" asked Tolomeo, surprised and rather vexed. "I hoped to astonish you by this."
"Well, it's a long story. I'll tell it after you tell me yours. Michael entered dressed as a soldier."
"Yes," said Tolomeo, more and more surprised by the extent of the lawyer's knowledge. "I thought he was my nephew until I heard his conversation. Then I knew that this was Mrs. Gilroy's son and that she had been deceived by Walter Gore in a false marriage. Sir Simon told Michael that he was tired of assisting him, and accused him of making love to the housemaid. The boy—he is but a boy, signor—acknowledged this. Then Sir Simon said that Michael had forged his name for one thousand pounds."