'You have known me all my life,' he cried. 'You have known me and all my people. Yet at the first moment you are ready to believe that I have committed a most abominable forgery! You—my father's oldest friend—my mother's Trustee! My own Guardian! You!'
'Pardon me. There are certain facts in this case. I have laid them before you. I have shown——'
'To suspect me,' Arundel repeated, 'and all the time another man—that man—your clerk—who knows everything ever done in this office, is in and about the place all day long.'
'The imitations,' said Checkley quietly, 'were found in his own drawer—by himself.'
'Who put them there? Who made them? You—villain and scoundrel!'
'Stop, stop,' said Mr. Dering coldly. 'We go too fast. Let us first prove our facts. We will then proceed to conclusions.'
'Well, sir, you clearly believe that I forged your name and robbed you of all this money. I have not got ten pounds in the world; but that is not, I suppose, a fact which bears on the case. You think I have seven hundred pounds somewhere. Very good. Think so, if you please. Meanwhile, I am not going to stay in the service of a man who is capable of thinking such a thing. I leave your service—at once. Get some one else to serve you—somebody who likes being charged with forgery and theft.' He flung himself out of the room and banged the door behind him.
'He has run away,' said Checkley. 'Actually, run away at the very outset! What do you think now?'
'I do not think. We shall, I daresay, find out the truth in due course. Meantime, these documents will remain in my keeping.'
'Only, I hope, sir,' the clerk began, 'that after what you've just seen and heard, after such insolence and running away and all——'