"Oh, no, Mr. Murgatroyd!" she said. "Surely you must know that I believe you!"
But Murgatroyd insisted; and obeying him finally, Miriam broke the seals, and presently she showed to them the securities, undisturbed, just as Murgatroyd had taken them, dollar for dollar, bond and bond.
Suddenly Murgatroyd felt a touch on the arm.
"And I believe you, Billy," said Shirley contritely.
An enigmatical smile passed across the prosecutor's face.
"Do you, indeed?" he said dryly; and added: "That's, perhaps, more than I had any right to expect."
A slight pucker showed on Miss Bloodgood's beautiful brow, but she replied, quite unruffled:—
"Why, of course, I do. After all, you were honest, weren't you?" And not waiting for his answer, added ingenuously: "You were not a thief!"
Instantly the expression on Murgatroyd's face became a very serious one.
"Yes, I was," he protested, "I was a thief." And with that he turned to Challoner and said in a voice of great feeling: "Challoner, this money is your wife's. Take it. And great God, man," he groaned, "don't, don't forget what it did to you—what it made you, years ago."