"Well, I didn't fancy the idea of actually intruding upon Mr. Graeme. You remember, sir, that he had forbidden me to come on the place."
"Yet you summoned enough courage to knock?"
"That was a little different, sir, from walking in on him unannounced. Besides, I really did wish to see him."
"For what purpose?"
It was the crucial question, and we all craned our necks in our eagerness to catch the reply. But Campion's voice was without a tremor.
"To restore the matchbox and claim the twenty dollars reward," he answered.
"What proof can you give that the article in question was lost and a reward offered for its return?"
The mulatto drew a folded newspaper from his pocket, and handed it to Judge Hendricks. It was a copy of the King William County Clarion, and a paragraph in the advertising columns was heavily blue-pencilled. It was to the effect that a gold and turquoise-jewelled matchbox, bearing the initials F. H. G., had been lost on the road between Calverton and Lynn. A reward of twenty dollars was offered for its return to Mr. Graeme of "Hildebrand Hundred."
"The date of this copy of the Clarion," said Judge Hendricks, frowning portentously, "is June 10, 1919. In the absence of any further evidence I direct the discharge of the prisoner."