You have no
doubts about it?' he said, trying to prompt me.

I hesitated. 'No, no doubts,' I answered, turning over the sheet and
inspecting it still closer. 'I type-wrote it at Florence.'

'Do you recognise that signature as Mr. Marmaduke Ashurst's?' he went
on.

I stared at it. Was it his? It was like it, certainly. Yet that _k_? and
those _s_'s? I almost wondered.

Counsel was obviously annoyed at my hesitation. He thought I was playing
into the enemy's hands. 'Is it his, or is it not?' he inquired again,
testily.

'It is his,' I answered. Yet I own I was troubled.

[Illustration: I WAS A GROTESQUE FAILURE.]

He asked many questions about the circumstances of the interview when I
took down the will. I answered them all. But I vaguely felt he and I
were at cross-purposes. I grew almost as uncomfortable under his gaze as
if he had been examining me in the interest of the other side. He
managed to fluster me. As a witness for Harold, I was a grotesque
failure.

Then the cross-eyed Q.C., rising and shaking his huge bulk, began to
cross-examine me. 'Where did you type-write this thing, do you say?' he
said, pointing to it contemptuously.

'In my office at Florence.'

'Yes, I understand; you had an office in Florence--after you gave up
retailing bicycles on the public roads; and you had a partner, I
think--a Miss Petherick, or Petherton, or Pennyfarthing, or something?'

'Miss Petheridge,' I corrected, while the Court tittered.

'Ah, Petheridge, you call it! Well, now answer this question carefully.
Did your Miss Petheridge hear Mr. Ashurst dictate the terms of his last
will and testament?'

'No,' I answered. 'The interview was of a strictly confidential
character. Mr. Ashurst took me aside into the back room at our office.'

'Oh, he took you aside? Confidential? Well, now we're getting at it. And
did anybody but yourself see or hear any part whatsoever of this
precious document?'

'Certainly not,' I replied. 'It was a private matter.'

'Private! oh, very! Nobody else saw it. Did Mr. Ashurst take it away
from the office in person?'

'No; he sent his courier for it.'

'His courier? The man Higginson?'

'Yes; but I refused to give it to Higginson. I took it myself that night
to the hotel where Mr. Ashurst was stopping.'

'Ah! You took it yourself. So the only other person who knows anything
at first hand about the existence of the alleged will is this person
Higginson?'

'Miss Petheridge knows,'