find out? How are they to prove
anything? Mr. Joseph took the things, and I helped him to a key; and
he isn't likely to split, and--oh, Lord, if they were to find it!" For
at that moment he felt the duplicate key in his waistcoat-pocket. "If
they were to find it!"

He took the key out, and looked at the bright and innocent-looking
thing, as a murderer might look at his blood stained dagger.

Just then, as he gazed upon it, holding it just twelve inches in front
of his nose, one hand was laid upon his shoulder, and another took the
key from between his fingers.

He turned quickly, and his knees gave way, and he sunk upon the floor,
crying:

"Oh, Mr. Lala Roy, sir, Mr. Lala Roy, I am not the thief! I am
innocent! I will tell you all about it! I will confess all to you! I
will indeed! I will make atonement! Oh, what a miserable fool I've
been!"

"Upon the heels of Folly," said the Sage, "treadeth Shame. You will
now be able to understand the words of wisdom, which say of the wicked
man, 'The curse of iniquity pursueth him; he liveth in continual fear;
the anxiety of his mind taketh vengeance upon him.' Stand up and
speak."

The Man in Possession looked on as if an incident of this kind was too
common in families for him to take any notice of it. Nothing, in fact,
is able to awaken astonishment in the heart of the Man in Possession,
because nothing is sacred to him except the "sticks" he has to guard.
To Iris, the event was, however, of importance, because it afforded
Lala Roy a chance of giving Arnold that photograph, no other than an
early portrait of Mr. Emblem's grandson.

CHAPTER XII.

IS THIS HIS PHOTOGRAPH?

The best way to get a talk with his cousin was to dine with her.
Arnold therefore went to Chester Square next day with the photograph
in his pocket. It was half an hour before dinner when he arrived, and
Clara was alone.

"My dear," she cried with enthusiasm, "I am charmed--I am
delighted--with Iris."

"I am glad," said Arnold mendaciously.

"I am delighted with her--in every way. She is more and better than I
could have expected--far more. A few Americanisms, of course--"

"No doubt," said Arnold. "When I saw her I thought they rather
resembled Anglicisms. But you have had opportunities of judging. You
have in your own possession," he continued, "have you not, all the
papers which establish her identity?"

"Oh, yes; they are all locked up in my strong-box. I shall be very
careful of