That same evening, when dear "Idols" was gone, and I felt trebly alone,
Mrs. Shelfer came to say that her uncle John was there, and would be
glad to see me. Though he had been several times to ask how I was, he
had not seen me since the first day of my blindness.
After expressing his joy and surprise at my recovery, he assured me that
I must thank neither myself nor the doctor, but my luck in not having
touched the liquid until its strength was nearly expended.
"Have you any news for me?" I asked abruptly. As my strength returned,
the sense of my wrong grew hotter.
"Yes; and I fear you will think it bad news. You will lose my help for
awhile in your pursuit."
"How so? You talk of my luck; I am always unlucky."
"Because I am ordered abroad on a matter too nice and difficult for any
of my colleagues. To-morrow I leave England."
"How long shall you be away?"
"I cannot tell. Perhaps one year; perhaps two. Perhaps I may never
return. Over and above the danger, I am not so young as I was."
I felt dismayed, and stricken down. Was I never to have a chance? All
powers of earth and heaven and hell seemed to combine against me. Then
came a gleam of hope, obscured immediately by the remembrance of his
words.
"Are you going to Italy?"
"No. To Australia."
Thereupon all hope vanished, and for a time I could not say a word. At
last I said--
"Inspector Cutting, the least thing you can do before you go, and your
absolute duty now, is to tell me every single thing you found out, in
the course of your recent search. Something you must have learned, or
you would not have done what you did. All along I have felt that you
were hiding something from me. Now you can have no motive. Now I am
your successor in the secret; I, and no one else. To no other will I
commit the case. How much I have suffered from your secresy, none but
myself can know. Henceforth I will have no help. Three months you have
been on the track, and I almost believe that you have discovered
nothing."
I spoke so, partly through passion, partly in hope to taunt him into
disclosure. His chief weakness, as I knew well, was pride in his own
sagacity.
"You shall suffer no more. I had good reasons for hiding it, one of
them your own hastiness. Now I will tell you all I know. In fact, as
you well said, it has become my duty to do so, unless you will authorise
me to appoint a successor before I go."
"Certainly not. My confidence in you cannot be transferred to a
stranger."
"One chance more. Let me report the matter officially. It is possible
that my superiors may think it more important than my new mission, which
is to recover a large amount of property."
"No. I will not allow it. I have devoted myself to one object. I
alone can effect it. It shall not pass to others. I feel once more
that it is my destiny to unravel this black mystery; myself, by my own
courage. In asking your aid I was thwarting my destiny. Since then I
have had nothing but accidents. There is a proverb in some language,
'Who crosses destiny shall have accident.'"
"Miss Valence, I could never have dreamed that you were so
superstitious."
"Now tell me all you have done, all you have discovered, and your own
conclusion from it."
He told me all in a very few words, and his conclusion was mine. To any
other except myself, the grounds on which he had based it, would have
seemed insufficient. I took good care to secure every possible means of
following up the frail clue. Ere he wished me good-bye, he offered one
last suggestion. "If, during my absence, Miss Valence, you press your
evidence far enough to require the strong hand, or if before you have
done so you require a man's assistance, apply at once to my son--you can
always find him through Patty Shelfer. He is only a serjeant as yet,
and not in the detective force; but he has qualities, that young man
has, he has got all my abilities, and more! Ah, he will be at the top
of the tree when I am in my grave, please God."
His shrewd eyes softened as he spoke, and I liked him ten times as well
for this little flaw in his sheathing. Of course he knew that I could
not entrust myself to a young man, as I could to him. When he was gone,
with many good wishes on both sides, and a little keepsake from me, I
felt that I had lost an intelligent, honest, and true friend.