“No, it isn't as you suppose.”
“Then why won't he pay me the money, I'd like to know?”
“There is some trouble about the bonds. It is charged that they are stolen.”
“How is that? You gave them to me,” said Morrison, suspiciously.
Now came the awkward moment. However, Ford had decided on the story he would tell.
“They were given me by a person who owed me money,” he said, plausibly. “How was I to know they were stolen?”
“They were stolen, then?”
“I suppose so. In fact, I know so.”
“How do you know?”
“Well—in fact, they were stolen from my stepmother.”