Leaning back against the corner of the mantel-piece by the side of the blazing fire in his private room, calmly surveying those ranged before him, and listening to their tale with an impassive face, was Thomas Ashley. Sergeant Delves and Mr. Dare were giving him the account of the changing of the cheque, obtained from White the butcher. Samuel Lynn stood near the master's desk, his brow knit in perplexity, his countenance keen and anxious. The description of the cloak, tallying so exactly with the one worn by William Halliburton, led Mr. Dare to the conclusion, nay, to the positive conviction that the butcher's visitor could have been no other than William. The sergeant held the same view; but the sergeant adopted it with difficulty. "It's an odd thing for _him_ to turn thief," said he, reflectively. "I'd have trusted that young fellow, sir, with untold gold," he added, to Mr. Ashley. "Here's another proof how we may be deceived." "I told you," said Mr. Dare, turning to Mr. Ashley, "that it could be no other than Halliburton." "Thee will permit me to say, friend Dare, that I do not agree with thy deductions," interposed the Quaker, before Mr. Ashley could answer. "Why, what would you have?" returned Mr. Dare. "Nothing can be plainer. Ask Sergeant Delves if he thinks further proof can be needed." "Many a man has been hanged upon less," was the oracular answer of Sergeant Delves. "What part of my deductions do you object to?" inquired Mr. Dare of the Quaker. "Thee art assuming--if I understand thee correctly--that there is no other cloak in the city so similar to William's as to be mistaken for it." "Just so." "Then, friend, I tell thee that there is." Mr. Dare opened his eyes. "Who wears it?" he asked. "That is another question," said Samuel Lynn. "I should be glad to find out myself, for curiosity's sake." Then Mr. Lynn told the story of his having observed a man, whom he had taken for William, walking at the back of his house, apparently waiting for something. "I saw him on two evenings," he observed, "at some considerable interval of time. The figure bore a perfect resemblance to William Halliburton; the height, the cloak, the cap--all appeared to be his. I taxed him with it. He denied it _in toto_, said he had not been walking there at all, and I believed he was attempting, for the first time since I have known him, to deceive me. I----" "Are you sure he was not?" put in Mr. Dare.