"Why, I do think, sir, all things considered," replied the lawyer--"I do think your lordship might have given me intimation; as the business in which I am engaged on your lordship's account"----
"Has nothing on earth to do with my nephew, nor my nephew with it, Mr. Tims!" replied Lord Ashborough sternly. "We will keep to the point, sir, if you please. Henry, you said you had some questions to ask this person; you had better ask them."
"Person!" muttered Mr. Tims, fidgeting on his chair. "Person!" but he had soon more serious matter to think of; for Beauchamp, approaching the table, sat down at the side next the window, and taking out his pocket-book, spoke in a calm, mild tone, which had grown infinitely more moderate than at first, as he saw the terrible agitation under which the unhappy man laboured.
"Now, Mr. Tims," he said, "I neither want to puzzle you, nor to annoy you, by what I am going to ask; but there are certain matters on which you must give a full explanation, both for my satisfaction, and my uncle's"----
"No, no, Henry, pardon me!" interrupted the earl; "the business is yours alone--I am perfectly satisfied for my part--I have heard a charge, but no proof; and, consequently, I should be doing injustice to Mr. Tims were I to be dissatisfied."
"My lord, the business is certainly mine," replied Beauchamp, "but it is also yours to the extent of at least ten thousand pounds, if not more--but to the point. My first question is, Mr. Tims, how you came to detain, upon the pretence that it had been stolen from your uncle, the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, paid by Sir Sidney Delaware to you, as Lord Ashborough's agent, when, at the time you detained it upon that pretext, you perfectly well knew that it had not been stolen, and that it had been put in Captain Delaware's room by me."
"But I never knew any such thing, sir!" replied Mr. Tims. "I believed, as every body else believed, that Captain Delaware, when he murdered my poor unhappy uncle, had stolen those notes; and permit me to say, sir," he added, assuming a slight touch of bluster--"permit me to say, I had better cause to believe such to be the case, than you have to accuse me of actions I should despise, sir. What reason had I to suppose you placed the money there?"
"Nay, nay, Mr. Tims," said Beauchamp calmly, "do not lose your temper; remember, sir, passion may throw you off your guard, and you will yet have occasion for all your wit in your exculpation.--You ask what reason you had to suppose I placed the money in Captain Delaware's room; I will tell you, Mr. Tims. First, because, amongst your uncle's papers, you found an acquittance in my handwriting for the sum of fifteen thousand pounds, received by him on my account from Messrs. Steelyard and Wilkinson"----
"But, sir! But, sir!" cried Mr. Tims.
"Do not interrupt me, sir," said Beauchamp. "Next, I say, because you found a note of hand signed by me for the sum of ten thousand pounds, advanced to me by your uncle, and dated on the very day on which he was murdered, poor man!"