"
"You have me," was the short reply with which Mr. Moore gave up
the struggle. "Rudge, go back to your place. When you are wanted
in the court-room I will let you know."
The smile with which he said this was sarcastic enough, but it was
sarcasm directed mainly against himself. We were not surprised
when, after some sharp persuasion on the part of the major, he
launched into the following recital of his secret relation to what
he called the last tragedy ever likely to occur in the Moore family.
"I never thought it wrong to be curious about the old place; I never
thought it wrong to be curious about its mysteries. I only
considered it wrong, or at all events ill judged, to annoy Veronica,
in regard to them, or to trouble her in any way about the means by
which I might effect an entrance into its walls. So I took the one
that offered and said nothing.
"I have visited the old house many times during my sojourn in this
little cottage. The last time was, as one of your number has so
ably discovered on the most memorable night in its history; the one
in which Mrs. Jeffrey's remarkable death occurred there. The
interest roused in me by the unexpected recurrence of the old
fatality attending the library hearthstone reached its culmination
when I perceived one night the glint of a candle burning in the
southwest chamber.
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