"
Mr. Montgomery said this with an air of conscious respectability and
high standing, which might readily impose upon strangers. But, by bad
luck, what he had said was heard by a person able to confute him.
"Did you say you were from Hayfield Centre?" asked a gentleman, standing
a few feet distant.
"Yes," said Mr. Montgomery.
"I think you said your name was Barnes?"
"Yes, sir."
"And that you have been preaching there for the last seven years?"
"Yes, sir," answered Mr. Montgomery, but there was rather less
confidence in his tone. In fact he was beginning to feel uneasy.
"It is very strange," said the other. "I have a sister living in
Hayfield Centre, and frequently visit the place myself, and so of course
know something of it. Yet I have never heard of any clergyman named
Barnes preaching there."
Mr. Montgomery saw that things looked critical.
"You are strangely mistaken, sir," he said. "However, I will not press
the sale. If you will return the ring (to the clerk) I will dispose of
it elsewhere."
But the clerk's suspicions had been aroused by what had been said.
"I will first speak to Mr. Ball," he said.
"There is no occasion to speak to him. I shall not sell the ring to-day.
To-morrow, I will come with witnesses whose testimony will outweigh that
of this gentleman, who I suspect never was in Hayfield Centre in his
life.
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