"Was there any such feeling on the part of the deceased?"
Mr. Dunbar looked furtively at William Balderby. The junior partner's eyelids dropped under that stolen glance.
It was clear that he knew the story of the forged bills.
Had the coroner for Winchester been a clever man, he would have followed that glance of Mr. Dunbar's, and would have understood that the junior partner knew something about the antecedents of the dead man. But the coroner was not a very close observer, and Mr. Dunbar's eager glance escaped him altogether.
"Yes," answered the Anglo-Indian, "Joseph Wilmot had a grudge against me before I sailed for Calcutta, but we settled all that at Southampton, and I promised to allow him an annuity."
"You promised him an annuity?"
"Yes—not a very large one—only fifty pounds a year; but he was quite satisfied with that promise."
"He had some claim upon you, then?"
"No, he had no claim whatever upon me," replied Mr. Dunbar, haughtily.
Of course, it could be scarcely pleasant for a millionaire to be cross-questioned in this manner by an impertinent Hampshire coroner.