“Well?” he said, glancing up, and turning toward Wade.
“Your aunt supposed she was selling one thousand acres. Am I right, Mrs. Landray?”
“Yes,” said Virginia, but her eyes dwelt yearningly on her nephew, though he still avoided her gaze.
“She received five thousand dollars for the land. Mr. Benson was more fortunate. He received fifty thousand dollars for it. Look at the dates, you will see that not two weeks elapsed between the two transactions.”
“But here, what about this man Stark?” asked Stephen, catching at a straw.
“Stark was merely used as a decoy, your aunt never saw him. That his name appears only makes the evidence of premeditated fraud the stronger.”
Stephen winced at the word.
“You saw the original—” he was at a loss for the right word.
“The original entries, yes.” Wade's voice was hard and emotionless, but it rang with a triumph he could not wholly repress or deny himself.
“And you are sure that they correspond in every particular—the dates I mean—with those given in the copies?” asked Stephen.