"Who forged the will?" repeated Hatchie, slackening the rope.
"I did not," replied Maxwell, as soon as he could regain breath enough
to speak.
"Who did?"
"I know not."
[Illustration: Hatchie forcing secrets from Maxwell. Page 178]
Hatchie pulled the rope again.
"Your master--"
"I have no master. Miss Emily is my mistress."
"I have been told his name was De Guy."
"Who is De Guy?"
"A lawyer of New Orleans."
"And what agency had you in the affair?"
"None whatever."
"Then Mr. Dumont and De Guy are the only persons concerned in the
transaction?"
"Yes."
"You are positive?"
"Yes."
"Then, how comes it, Mr. Maxwell, that they have intrusted you with
their secret? How came you by this knowledge?" said Hatchie, fiercely,
as he prepared, apparently, to swing up the attorney.
Maxwell was staggered by this question, and Hatchie perceived his
discomfiture. That Maxwell had any agency in the transaction he only
suspected; certainly it was not he whom he had seen with Jaspar on the
night of his escape from Bellevue.
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