an's house. It was a question
whether any magistrate would give him such a warrant, seeing that
search had already been made, and that, on the failure of such
search, that Squire's will had already been proved. A man's house
is his castle, let the suspicion against him be what it may, unless
there be evidence to support it. Were he to apply to a magistrate, he
could only say that the man's own manner and mode of speech had been
evidence of his guilt. And yet how much was there hanging, perhaps,
on the decision of the moment! Whether the property should go to
the hands of her who was entitled to enjoy it, or remain in the
possession of a thief such as this, might so probably depend on the
action which should be taken, now, at this very instant!

Mr Ricketts, his confidential clerk, was the only person with whom
he had fully discussed all the details of the case,--the only person
to whom he had expressed his own thoughts as they had occurred to
him. He had said a word to the clerk in triumph as Cousin Henry left
him, but a few minutes afterwards recalled him with an altered tone.
"Ricketts," he said, "the man has got that will with him in the
book-room at Llanfeare."

"Or in his pocket, sir," suggested Ricketts.

"I don't think it. Wherever it be at this moment, he has not placed
it there himself. The Squire put it somewhere, and he has found it."

"The Squire was very weak when he made that will, sir," said the
clerk. "Just at that time he was only coming down to the dining-room,
when the sun shone in just for an hour or two in the day. If he put
the will anywhere, it would probably be in his bed-room."

"The man occupies another chamber?" asked the attorney.

"Yes, sir; the same room he had before his uncle died."

"It's in the book-room," repeated Mr Apjohn.

"Then he must have put it there."

"But he didn't. From his manner, and from a word or two that he
spoke, I feel sure that the paper has been placed where it is by
other hands."

"The old man never went into the book-room. I heard every detail of
his latter life from Mrs Griffith when the search was going on. He
hadn't been there for more than a month. If he wanted anything out of
the book-room, after the young lady went away, he sent Mrs Griffith
for it."

"What did he send for?" asked Mr Apjohn.

"He used to read a little sometimes," said the clerk.

"Sermons?" suggested Mr Apjohn. "For many years past he has read
sermons to himself whenever he