Mr. Singleton had gone out for a stroll after breakfast with Dorothy and
Ada Fortescue. Mrs. Fortescue was with Clara, who had come down to
breakfast for the first time and was now lying down for a bit as a
preparation for going for a short drive later on. Mr. Hawtrey was
smoking a cigar in front of the hotel with Mr. Fortescue, intending to
follow the girls and Mr. Singleton after the post came in. After half an
hour's waiting the bag for the hotel was brought in.
'They are principally yours, Fortescue,' Mr. Hawtrey said, as the clerk
sorted them over. 'The inquiries after Clara's health must have
materially benefited the postal revenue. As you are not coming I will
put those four for Ada in my pocket. There is nothing for either of the
others, and only one for me. I know what its contents are without
opening it.'
Putting the five letters into his pocket, he strolled down the village.
He knew exactly where he should find the others, as they almost always
took their seat in a nook sheltered completely from the wind and exposed
to the full rays of the sun.
'I suppose I had better look at the letter,' he said to himself. 'I
would rather Danvers did not write so often. Dorothy looks up
inquiringly whenever the post comes in, and I would rather say "No
letter to-day," than to have to say, "There is a letter from Danvers,
Dorothy, but he sends no news whatever." It comes to the same thing, no
doubt, but no letter might mean that they had got some little clue and
meant following it up. At any rate, she does not look so disappointed as
when I tell her that there is a letter with nothing in it.'
'Hulloa!' he exclaimed, as he opened it, 'this is a much more lengthy
epistle.' The first line or two were sufficient to cause him to burst
into something like a shout of joy. They ran:--'I am delighted to be
able to give you the good news that the existence and whereabouts of the
man and the counterfeit of Miss Hawtrey have been ascertained without a
doubt. Hampton was right when he considered they would probably have
made off to the United States directly they had secured their plunder. I
received a letter from him this morning. Unfortunately I have been away
shooting for a week, and it has been lying unopened since the day I
left.' Then followed a copy of Captain Hampton's letter, together with
copies of the various affidavits.
'These prove practically all we require. I have been round with them to
Charles Levine. He is very much gratified, and says that he considers
this testimony should be ample to enable us to defend any action on the
part of Gilliat. He thinks the best plan will be to place Captain
Hampton's letter and the depositions before Gilliat and say that we are
prepared to defend the action and to bring over all these people as
witnesses. Of course, it would be more satisfactory to have the
adventuress and her accomplice in the dock or to produce their written
confession. Such is evidently Hampton's opinion also. You see he has
started for New Orleans and says he shall follow them if he has to cross
the continent. This, however, I have not copied, as he has put that on a
separate piece of paper and marked it private and confidential. From
something he said to me the day before he started I imagine he has for
some reason or other an objection to Miss Hawtrey's knowing that he is
working on her behalf.
'You see, in the early part of the letter, which he thought would be
sent to you, and doubtless shown to her, he treats the discovery he has
made as a purely accidental matter, although he told me that he intended
to make it his sole business to hunt them down, if it took him six
months to do so. However, when he wrote he was certainly on the point of
starting for New Orleans, and I own that I consider his undertaking to
be a somewhat perilous one. This fellow must be a thorough-paced
ruffian, and he will find no difficulty in getting together any number
of reckless men who would, if they found he was in danger of arrest,
hesitate at nothing. Of course, if he goes farther west his errand will
be still more difficult. Hampton is so thoroughly good a fellow that I
should feel grieved indeed did anything befall him.'
Mr. Hawtrey thrust the letter and enclosure into his pocket and hurried
on; he hesitated for a moment, as he remembered that Ada Fortescue was
with his daughter, but he said to himself, 'She is a good girl and a
great friend of Dorothy's; we can trust her to hold her tongue--besides,
we need not go much into the past.'
'Why, you've been running, father?'
'No, my dear, no; but I am a little excited over a letter I have just
received. It is a family matter, Ada, but I know Dorothy will not wish
you to go away, for I am sure we can trust you with our little secret.'
'Have you news, father?' Dorothy asked, springing to her feet. 'News
about that?'
'Yes, dear; but first I must tell your friend that some tradesmen have
been robbed by a person so strongly resembling you that she deceived
even those that knew you well. The matter was so serious that we have
had a number of detectives searching for this woman, as only by her
being found could we prove that the orders for these goods were not
given by you. Having told her that much I can go on with my news.
'They have been found, Dorothy. Thank God they have been found!'
The girl threw her arms round her father's neck and burst into a passion
of tears. Hitherto she had had nothing but her consciousness of
innocence to support her. Until the suggestion had been made by Captain
Hampton that some one had impersonated her, she had been in a state of
complete bewilderment, and even this hypothesis seemed to her to be
improbable in the extreme. Still as her father and Mr. Singleton had
accepted it, she, too, had clung to it, but with less real hope than
they had entertained, that it might prove to be true.
As the weeks had passed by without any shadow of proof that such a
person existed being forthcoming, she had more than once told herself
that she would have to pass all her life with this dark cloud over her.
A few close friends might believe in her, but when the story was
whispered about, as sooner or later it would be sure to be, everyone
else would hold aloof from her. She had been feeling that morning in
lower spirits than usual. Captain Armstrong had left early, and she was
deeply sorry for him, more sorry for him than for herself. She had slept
but little that night, and had come to the conclusion that were this
weight ever removed and were he ever to ask her again, her life would be
a happy one with him, even though she did not feel for him more than a
very real liking. The sudden announcement of a fact she herself had
begun to doubt, for a time completely upset her, and her father at last
said, 'I will leave you here for a few minutes with your friend,
Dorothy, and will stroll away with Singleton. By the time we return you
will be able to listen calmly to the story.'
When they had gone a short distance away from the girls, he placed the
copies of the letters and depositions in Mr. Singleton's hands.
'Hampton!' the latter exclaimed, as soon as he glanced over the first
line or two; 'I am glad indeed. Let us sit down on that rock over there;
the news is too pleasant to be lost by not being able to read it
distinctly.'
'Well, Hawtrey, I congratulate you,' he said, when he had finished.
'Those letters are sufficient to prove to any unprejudiced person that
Dorothy has been perfectly innocent throughout the whole business. It is
a pity the birds had flown before Hampton arrived there. Even putting
everything else aside, I would have given something to see that woman
who humbugged me so completely. What will our young lady say now when
she hears that it is Hampton who has thus cleared her? By the way, he
writes as if it were a mere accident, his having discovered them.'
'I fancy he writes in that style because he has no doubt that she will
see the letter. There is the letter Danvers sent me with the enclosure.
Hampton seems to be just as obstinate about the matter as Dorothy is.'
Mr. Singleton read the letter with many grunts of disapprobation.
'Why couldn't he be satisfied with what he has done?' he exclaimed, when
he had finished the letter. 'He had got enough evidence to satisfy any
reasonable people; now he must needs go chasing them all over America,
and as likely as not get shot for his pains. Why didn't he write over
and ask whether that was not sufficient?'
'Because if he had done so, Singleton, he might never have been able to
pick up the clue again. The evidence he has got may not be absolutely
conclusive, but undoubtedly it will be very valuable. These affidavits
prove conclusively that there was on a certain day a woman staying in a
New York Hotel who was so like Dorothy that my daughter's portrait was
believed by several people who had seen the woman to be hers. It could
also be proved that she and the man with her had just come from Hamburg.
But you see it does not in any way connect this woman with the robbery.
There is the weak point of the business. The evidence is enough, as you
say, to convince reasonable people; but as these shopmen are all ready
to swear to Dorothy, the fact that we have found a woman exactly like
her, but whom we cannot produce, is scarcely a satisfactory proof from a
legal point of view that she is innocent. However, we can talk that over
presently; we had better join the others; Dorothy will be wanting to
hear the news. Be careful what you say; we may both think that Ned
Hampton's views are foolish, but we are bound to respect them.'
Mr. Singleton made no reply, and mentally resolved that if it were
necessary he would speak about it, whether or no.
'I am not going to see the young fool throw away his chances like that,'
he said to himself; 'he does not know what has been going on here--that
Dorothy has been within an ace of accepting some one else. All this
foolery of his shows that he really cares for her. If he had not done so
he would simply have laughed at her nonsense.'
They met the girls coming towards them.
'You have been an unconscionable time, father, I am burning with
impatience to know how it has all come about.'
'Those papers will tell you, Dorothy. One is an extract from a letter
written to Mr. Danvers by Ned Hampton, the others are copies of
affidavits sworn in New York.'
Dorothy changed colour. She had been thinking of her former friend that
night, and had very reluctantly come to the conclusion that she had been
unduly hard upon him. She had asked Captain Armstrong what he would have
thought had he seen her as Ned Hampton had supposed that he had done,
and in spite of his love for her and his absolute confidence in her
word, Captain Armstrong had admitted that he should at first have come
to exactly the same conclusion--namely, that she had got into a scrape.
She had not felt either hurt or angry when he admitted this. Why, then,
should she have been both in the case of her old playfellow? The
question was altogether an unwelcome one, and she had dismissed it as
speedily as possible, but the name coming upon her now so suddenly and
unexpectedly had almost startled her. In some anger against herself for
the involuntary flush, she took the papers and prepared to read them
much more deliberately than she would otherwise have done.
However, her eyes ran over the lines more rapidly as she read on, and
when she finished she exclaimed--
'What a wonderful piece of good fortune! It seems quite providential
that Captain Hampton should have taken a fancy to go out to America, and
should have inquired when he went through New York if this man and woman
had lately arrived. He seems to have managed wonderfully well; it was
lucky he got such a clever detective as the person he speaks of. Really,
father, I feel very grateful to him.'
'So I think you ought to,' Mr. Hawtrey said somewhat sharply,
'considering that he has done what all the detectives in London have
failed to do, even aided by the police all over the Continent, and has
gone a long way towards lifting a cloud, which, if it had not been for
him, would have darkened your whole life.'
'I quite feel that, father; I have been thinking that over while you
have been away, and have told Ada that no words can express what a
relief it is to me. Of course, I am very, very grateful to Captain
Hampton; it was very good of him, indeed, to think of me, and to take
such trouble about me. What shall we have to do next?'
'That must depend upon what the lawyers say, Dorothy; I almost wish that
we had been going back to London, so as to talk it over with them
personally.'
'Why shouldn't we go, father? I am feeling quite well again now, and am
wanting very much to be home again. I would infinitely rather do that
than go to Italy. The Fortescues are talking of starting in a couple of
days, why should we not all go back together?'
'I will think it over, my dear. Now, I think you had better be getting
back to the hotel; the sun has gone in and the clouds are half-way down
the mountains. I think that we are going to have another snowstorm, so
you and Ada had better hurry. You have had experience of the suddenness
with which storms come on here.'
'I suppose this was why you would give no answer yesterday?' Ada
Fortescue said, as the two girls walked briskly back toward Chamounix,
followed more leisurely by Mr. Hawtrey and his friend.
'Yes, partly, Ada.'
'What a pity the news did not come a day sooner.'
'I don't know, Ada, I really had not made up my mind. You see, all along
I have been feeling that I could never get engaged again, and so I had
an answer ready, and had not thought it over as I should have done
otherwise. There is a snowflake. Do let us hurry, so as to be in before
it begins in earnest.'
Ada did not see the snowflake, but she saw that her companion wanted to
change the subject, and nothing more was said till they reached the
hotel, just as the snow was really beginning to fall.
Dorothy remained for some time in her room. She was dissatisfied with
herself for not feeling more elated at the discovery that had been made.
It was everything to her, she told herself; the greatest event of her
life; and yet, after the first burst of joy, it had not made her as
happy as it should have done.
It was tiresome that it should have been made by Captain Hampton. She
had requested him not to interfere farther in her affairs. He had done
so, and with success.
Certainly she would much rather that this woman had been discovered by
some one else. But this was not all. If the news had come a day earlier
she supposed that she should have accepted Captain Armstrong, and there
would have been an end of it. She had promised that she would let him
know if this was ever cleared up. Now, in honour she ought to write to
him. Anyhow, there was no occasion for that to-day. He had only left
that morning; it would look ridiculous were he to get her letter the day
he arrived in town. If they were going back she could wait until they
were in England. It would be a difficult letter to write, most
difficult; and she sat down for a time thinking, and ended by being as
unjustly angry with Captain Armstrong as she had been with Ned Hampton.
'I believe I am getting quite idiotic,' she said, getting up
impatiently. 'I shall begin to think that storm on the glacier has
affected my brain. When I ought to be the happiest girl possible, here I
am discontented with everything.'
The result of the conversation between Mr. Hawtrey and his friend was
that at luncheon the former announced that a letter that he had received
that morning told him his presence was required in London, and as
Dorothy was so much better, he should give up the idea of a visit to
Italy, and should go home with her at once.
'Let us all go together,' Clara said. 'I am sure that I am strong enough
to travel, and I do so long to be home.'
As it was agreed that a couple of days could make no difference to her,
orders were at once given for the carriages to be ready the next
morning, and at an early hour they started on their way down to Geneva.