"I have no positive proof, any more than it appears your informant has; but I am perfectly convinced in my own mind that the guilty man was _not_ John Massingbird, but another.

Understand me," he emphatically continued, "I have good and sufficient reason for saying this.

Rely upon it, whoever it may have been, John Massingbird it was not." Robin lifted his eyes to the face of Lionel.
"You say you don't know this, sir ?" "Not of actual proof.

But so sure am I that it was not he, that I could stake all I possess upon it." "Then, sir, you'd lose it," doggedly answered Robin.

"When the time comes that I choose to speak out--" "What are you doing there ?" burst forth Lionel, in a severely haughty tone.
It caused Robin to start from his seat.
In a gap of the hedge behind them, Lionel had caught sight of a human face, its stealthy ears complacently taking in every word.