"I thank you, sir, for the kindly feeling which has prompted you to act as you have, but I am far from having any desire to break up my home, and leave Ashdown, where I have lived for a great part of my life, in order to settle in a strange place."
"But consider the associations, Brancker; the very painful associations which this place cannot fail to have for you in time to come."
"That they will be painful, I do not doubt, sir. Mr. Hazeldine and I were ever the best of friends, and there was no man in the world whom I respected more; but most of us have many painful things to bear as we go through life, and, in my case, this will merely be one more added to the number."
"Mr. Avison mused for a few moments frowningly, then he said:
"My allusions were not so much intended to apply to poor Hazeldine's death as to other matters. I was certainly under the impression that, after so terrible a charge had been laid at your door, and after having undergone the ignominy of being imprisoned and brought to trial, you would be grateful to anyone who was willing to assist you to find a home elsewhere."
The color in John's face deepened and then paled. The look of bewilderment that had shone out of his eyes for a moment or two changed to one of indignation. He seemed to swallow something down, then with quiet dignity he said, "You must pardon me, Mr. Avison, if I altogether fail to see where what you term the ignominy comes in. Through a series of unfortunate accidents, some of which I frankly confess myself utterly at a loss to explain, a terrible suspicion was cast upon me; of that suspicion my imprisonment and subsequent trial were the inevitable outcome. But, sir, the verdict of a jury of my countrymen has cleared me from any complicity in a crime of which you, knowing me as you do, ought to be one of the last men in the world to believe me guilty."
Mr. Avison chose to ignore the latter part of John's dignified protest. "Yes," he said, in his chilliest tones, "it is precisely because there are so many circumstances connected with the case which still lack explanation, that----" Then he paused, staring with glassy, contracted eyes at John.
John started to his feet with flaming eyes and quivering nostrils.
"Do you mean to imply, sir, that any suspicion, even the slightest, still lingers in your mind that I was in any way privy to the death of Mr. Hazeldine?"
"I mean to imply nothing, Brancker. I am not in the habit of dealing in implications. After careful consideration of all the circumstances, I have deemed it advisable that you and I should part, at least for a time; for which reason it is that I have interested myself in your favor with my relative, Mr. Pencathlow, who will, I am sure----"