"Tell me about Jenner," Heron said, curtly. He saw that the old man, moved by the recollection of Marshall's behaviour to his daughter, was in the mood to be confidential. He would get all he could out of him before the wind changed.
Roper commenced speaking in a hurry as though in fear that his resolution would fail him. "Jenner was a wretch--a scamp!" he said. "He was in my employment before Jerry grew up to assist me. I took him off the streets, and he repaid my kindness by robbing me."
"Of the bill of exchange on which was the forgery of my father's name."
"Oh, you know that!" he said with a glance of surprise. "Well, I daresay. Your father--worthy man--would no doubt tell you. Yes, Jenner took the bill--just when I thought I had Marshall in the palm of my hand. Ah, that was a blow! I would have given hundreds to have kept that bill--to have lodged Marshall in gaol. But when that was gone, I could do nothing. Have you the bill--do you know where it is? Give it to me. I'll work the matter."
"I have not the bill," said Geoffrey, deliberately. He saw that the honour of the Cass family would be lost if entrusted to the hands of this man. "The bill was stolen from Jenner's dead body," he added, with studied equivocation.
"By whom?" Roper asked, abruptly. "Do you not know?"
"Certainly not," he said, with violence. "Are you about to accuse me of the crime? Why, I do not even know of the place where he met his death. You can prove nothing against me, sir, however cleverly you lay your trap."
"I am not laying any trap," Geoffrey said, mildly. "I want to know something more about Jenner--as I have told you at least five times! He was in your employment, you say?"
"Yes, I took him off the streets! One day Marshall brought that bill; I discounted it, and gave him five hundred pounds! Then I found out--how, it does not matter--that your father's signature had been forged. I saw your father----"
"I know all about that interview. You saw my father and he refused to prosecute, did he not?"