Did you say that she also told you that he
was persecuted or ill-used by her other relations?'
'I thought so. Yes, I am sure she said so.'
'And it was wholly and solely on these grounds that you assisted in
this clandestine correspondence?'
'Why--yes--partly,' faltered Constance, thinking of her literary
efforts, 'so it began.'
There was a manifest inclination to laugh in the audience, who
naturally thought her hesitation implied something very different; and
the judge, thinking that there was no need to push her further, when
Mr. Calderwood represented that all this did not bear on the matter,
and was no evidence, silenced Mr. Yokes, and the witness was dismissed.
The next point was that Colonel Reginald Mohun was called upon to
attest that the handwriting was his brother's. He answered for the
main body of the draft, and the signature, but the additions, in which
the forgery lay, were so slight that it was impossible to swear that
they did not come from the hand of Maurice Mohun.
'Had application been made to Mr. Mohun on the subject?'
'Yes, Colonel Mohun had immediately telegraphed to him at the address
in the Fiji Islands.'
'Has any answer been received?'
'No!' but Colonel Mohun had a curious expression in his eyes, and Mr.
Calderwood electrified the court by begging to call upon Mr. Maurice
Mohun.
There he was in the witness-box, looking sunburnt but vigorous. He
replied immediately to the question that the cheque was his own, and
that it had been left under his daughter's charge, also that it had
been for seven pounds, and the 'ty' and the cypher had never been
written by him.
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