He was now actually marching from the room. I had to give him a gentle hint in order to detain him. He winced under my touch like a hound which fears punishment. “What was the nature of your business, Mr. Moore, which took your sister last night to Mr. Edwin Lawrence?” “That’s my business; it’s none of yours.” “Answer my question.” He actually whimpered. It was beginning to dawn on me that I might be constrained to wring his neck before he went. “Don’t! You hurt! It was about some bills.” “Some bills of yours which you had given to Mr. Lawrence?” “No, it wasn’t then. Don’t! It was about some bills which he got me to--to fake.” “I see. And might some of them have borne the name of Mr. Philip Lawrence?” “Who told you? How do you know?” “Never mind who told me. Answer!” “It was all his fault! I should never have thought of such a thing if it hadn’t been for him; he egged me on. I--I owed him a few pounds, and he said if I were to fake up some bills, with his brother’s name on them, he’d let me off.” “And put the forgeries on the market, dividing the proceeds of the fraud with you?” “Nothing of the kind, I’ll take my oath to it; I swear I never had a penny. I never dreamt that he’d discount them, not for a moment! I thought it was a game he was going to play off on his brother--some sort of joke.” “Keen sense of humour yours, Mr. Moore.” “That’s where he had me; he must have gone straight off and cashed the bills. Then his brother found it out, and then he came to me and threatened to tell his brother that it was I who’d done it.” “And then you went to your sister and asked her, probably on your bended knees, to save you from exposure.” “There was no bended knees about it; you’re very much mistaken if you think there was. I’m not that kind. But I--I certainly mentioned to her something about it--she’s my own flesh and blood.” “Being your own flesh and blood she, possibly, offered to do her best to square it for you.” “That’s the mistake she made. She talked about giving him a hundred or two, as though that would be of any use. I said to her that if she’d give the money to me I could go abroad and start afresh, and it might be the making of me. But she never would take my advice, never!”