progress of the flames. I therefore only took out the key from the door
of the apartment, having first locked it, and, putting it in my pocket,
hastened to go where my presence seemed indispensably necessary."

"How long was it before you missed your property?"

"The same evening. The hurry of the scene had driven the circumstance
entirely out of my mind, till, going by accident near the apartment, the
whole affair, together with the singular and equivocal behaviour of
Williams, rushed at once upon my recollection. I immediately entered,
examined the trunk in which these things were contained, and, to my
astonishment, found the locks broken, and the property gone."

"What steps did you take upon this discovery?"

"I sent for Williams, and talked to him very seriously upon the
subject. But he had now perfectly recovered his self-command, and calmly
and stoutly denied all knowledge of the matter. I urged him with the
enormousness of the offence, but I made no impression. He did not
discover either the surprise and indignation one would have expected
from a person entirely innocent, or the uneasiness that generally
attends upon guilt. He was rather silent and reserved. I then informed
him, that I should proceed in a manner different from what he might
perhaps expect. I would not, as is too frequent in such cases, make a
general search; for I had rather lose my property for ever without
redress, than expose a multitude of innocent persons to anxiety and
injustice. My suspicion, for the present, unavoidably fixed upon him.
But, in a matter of so great consequence, I was determined not to act
upon suspicion. I would neither incur the possibility of ruining him,
being innocent, nor be the instrument of exposing others to his