“The matter to me is now made plain. The real culprit is the man whom I regarded as upright, pure, and honest. He has shamefully abused my confidence. To him I entrusted my money; and what, sir,” turning to McLiver, “have you to say in your defence?”
“I will neither acknowledge nor deny my guilt, sir, in the presence of that Welsh puppy, who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a caitiff cut-throat miscreant, a cunning, intriguing, and deceitful urchin from the Welsh mountains. When he meets me and Donald in the street, I promise him he shall be well paid for his treachery and circumvention.”
“That is,” said Mr. Roberts, “on condition you leave me a free man. For the present, sir, you must consider yourself and your cousin—I believe him to be equally guilty with yourself—in the hands of the authorities. The officers of justice are now in an adjoining room. They are there awaiting my orders. There is no occasion to detain them, as your guilt is but too clearly made out.”
The door was then opened, and McLiver and Donald were placed in their charge, and were marched off to prison.
On the room being cleared of the presence of all excepting Mr. Jones and Cadwgan, Mr. Roberts asked the latter how he had succeeded in making such important discoveries, and the reason which had moved him in entering upon an investigation which had cost him and his staff so much time and labour.
“For a long time, sir, I have firmly believed in his dishonesty. In the first place, and this fact first awakened my suspicion, I, by means which it is unnecessary for me to detail, ascertained that he was keeping a grand house, and had livery servants and carriages, and gave grand parties, which I knew he could not do with £400 a year. His cousin, Donald, is a fast young man who spent his earnings in dissipation, and for years has been the constant companion of young men who are believed to live by swindling their respective employers. On making these discoveries, Mr. Sykes, who is an honest Yorkshireman, and my friend Mr. Williams, resolved to take special notice of their movements, and wisely kept records of what they saw and heard, which could at any time be produced in the event of anything turning up. We discovered first, that tea had been bought by your house of a very inferior quality, which was paid for at double the actual invoice price, and in some cases the charge was sixty per cent above the actual cost.”
“But, Mr. Wynn, how did he manage this?”
“Oh, easily enough, sir.”
“But how?”
“We found by inquiry, that McLiver had two relatives as cashiers in the houses with which you did business; and as all moneys passed through their hands, they could commit frauds to almost any extent without fear of being detected. They had confederates, so by acting together had but little difficulty in carrying out their system of plunder, especially as the books and accounts were under their control. When you made your new arrangements, they, that is, Mr. McLiver and Donald, were apprehensive that disclosures would be made, and you will remember, sir, that McLiver almost protested against your scheme.”