"I was."
"Perchance it was at her instigation that you sought the place," Mr. Goddard remarked, a sudden suspicion making him feel sick at heart.
"Mrs. Stewart certainly knew that I was to have charge of your house," calmly responded Mrs. Weld.
"Then there was a plot between you—you had some deep-laid scheme in seeking the situation."
"I do not deny the charge, sir."
"What! do you boldly affirm it? What was your object?" demanded the man, in a towering rage, but growing deathly white at the explanation that suggested itself to his mind.
"I perceive that you have your suspicions, Mr. Goddard," coolly remarked the woman, without losing an atom of her self-possession in view of his anger.
"I have. Great Heavens! I understand it all now," cried her companion, hoarsely. "It was you who stole that certificate from my wife's room!"
"Yes, sir; I was fortunate enough to find it, two days previous to the ball."
"You confess it!—you dare own it to me, madam! You are worse than a professional thief, and I will have you arrested for your crime!" and Gerald Goddard was almost beside himself with passion at her cool effrontery.