ry emphatic gentleman."

"If truth, sir, constitute emphasis, you shall find me so."

"I attend to you, sir; and I give you notice, that when you shall have
exhausted yourself, I have my explanation to demand; and, I promise you,
a terrible one you shall find it."

This the wily baronet said, in order, if possible, to confound the
stranger, and throw him out of the directness of his purpose. In this,
however, he found himself mistaken. The other proceeded:

"You, Sir Thomas Gourlay, did, one night about eighteen years ago, as
I said, engage a man, disguised in a mask for the purpose of concealing
his features, to kidnap your brother's child from Red Hall--from this
very house in which we both stand."

"I beg your pardon," said Sir Thomas, "I forgot that circumstance in the
blaze of your eloquence; perhaps you will have the goodness to take a
seat;" and in the same spirit of bitter sarcasm, he motioned him with
mock courtesy, to sit down. The other, pausing only until he had spoken,
proceeded:

"You engaged this man, I repeat, to kidnap your brother's son and heir,
under the pretence of bringing him to see a puppet-show. Now, Sir Thomas
Gourlay," proceeded the stranger, "suppose that the friends of
this child, kidnapped by you, shall succeed in proving this fact by
incontestable evidence, in what position will you stand before the
world?"

"Much in the same position in which I stand now. In Red Hall, as its
rightful proprietor, with my back probably to the fire, as it is at
present."

It is undeniable, however, that despite all this haughty coolness of the
baronet, the charge involved in the statement advanced by the stranger
stunned him beyond belief; not simply because the other made it, for
that was a mere secondary consideration, but because he took it for
granted that it never could have been made unless through the medium of
treachery; and we all know that when a criminal, whether great or small,
has reason to believe that he has been betrayed, his position is not
enviable, inasmuch as all sense of security totters from under him. The
stranger, as he proceeded, watched the features of his auditor closely,
and could perceive that the struggle then going on between the tumult of
alarm within and the effort at calmness without, was more than, with all
his affected irony and stoicism, he could conceal.

"But, perhaps," proceeded the baronet, "you who presume to be so well
acquainted with the removal of my br