I'll tell you. It can't remain a
secret long.'
The ruling passion of the man expressed itself even then, in the tone of
regret in which he deplored the approaching publicity of what he knew.
'I told you I had watched him,' he proceeded. 'I was instructed to do
so by Mr Montague, in whose employment I have been for some time. We had
our suspicions of him; and you know what they pointed at, for you have
been discussing it since we have been waiting here, outside the room. If
you care to hear, now it's all over, in what our suspicions began, I'll
tell you plainly: in a quarrel (it first came to our ears through a hint
of his own) between him and another office in which his father's life
was insured, and which had so much doubt and distrust upon the subject,
that he compounded with them, and took half the money; and was glad to
do it. Bit by bit, I ferreted out more circumstances against him, and
not a few. It required a little patience, but it's my calling. I found
the nurse--here she is to confirm me; I found the doctor, I found
the undertaker, I found the undertaker's man. I found out how the old
gentleman there, Mr Chuffey, had behaved at the funeral; and I found out
what this man,' touching Lewsome on the arm, 'had talked about in his
fever.
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