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test would contain only the kindly opening clause of my remark. Of that
I had no shadow of doubt. You would have thought as I did. You would
not have expected a base betrayal from one whom you had befriended and
against whom you had committed no offence. And so with perfect
confidence, perfect trust, I wrote on a piece of paper the opening
words--ending with "Go, and reform,"--and signed it. When I was about to
put it in an envelope I was called into my back office, and without
thinking I left the paper lying open on my desk." He stopped, turned his
head slowly toward Billson, waited a moment, then added: "I ask you to
note this; when I returned, a little latter, Mr. Billson was retiring by
my street door." [Sensation.]
In a moment Billson was on his feet and shouting:
"It's a lie! It's an infamous lie!"
The Chair. "Be seated, sir! Mr. Wilson has the floor."
Billson's friends pulled him into his seat and quieted him, and Wilson
went on:
"
Those are the simple facts. My note was now lying in a different place
on the table from where I had left it. I noticed that, but attached no
importance to it, thinking a draught had blown it there. That Mr.
Billson would read a private paper was a thing which could not occur to
me; he was an honourable man, and he would be above that. If you will
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