After dinner the party returned to the veranda, which was warm and well
lighted. Mrs. Stephen resumed her sewing, Lawrence settled himself
comfortably in his big chair, and Foster engaged Lucy in careless talk.
She had a pleasant voice and pretty, animated gestures, and after the
strain he had borne there was a charm in relaxing and lazily enjoying
the society of an attractive girl. The trouble was that he could not
be careless long. Lawrence was inclined to put off disagreeable
things, and would no doubt sooner leave disturbing subjects alone; but
Foster had only kept half his promise to Alice and time that might be
valuable was being lost.
"Your adventure made an interesting story, Lawrence, but you took
unusual trouble to make us understand all that happened," he said at
length.
Lawrence's gesture hinted at humorous resignation. "You're a restless
fellow, Jake, but I hoped you'd wait until to-morrow. You see, I've
been warned to keep quiet."
Foster looked at Lucy and imagined that he had her support; she no
doubt knew his comrade's weakness for procrastination.
"I'll try not to disturb you much," he replied.
"Then you and Lucy insisted on my relating the thing at length. I felt
I had to indulge you."
Lucy's smile hinted that Foster must be firm. "That wasn't quite
enough. You had another motive."
"Oh, well," said Lawrence, "I suppose I wanted to recall the thing and
see how it looked in the light of what you told me about your exploits
in Scotland."
"They make it look different, don't they?" Lucy remarked.
Lawrence gave her a good-humored smile and then turned to Foster.
"Lucy's cleverer than I, but I really thought she was rather hard on
Walters." He paused for a moment, and then resumed thoughtfully: "You
must remember that my object was to keep out of Daly's way, and I
thought I was safe as long as I could do so. One would have expected
him to play a lone hand."
"Didn't you think there was something suspicious about Walters' turning
up again after he'd learned your name? There then were rather too many
coincidences."
"Suppose you enumerate them," Lawrence suggested.
"He urged you to try the mountains and followed you to Banff. Then
I've no doubt he proposed the trip up the glacier, for which he chose
the guides. He sent the best back with Miss Stephen, and while this
was the proper thing, it's curious that the other guide got drunk.
Walters gave him your flask. Then he fell when he threw the rope--at
the only place where a fall would not have led to his shooting down the
_couloir_. Afterwards, although speed was urgent, he was very slow in
going back for help."
"Besides, he knew exposure to the frost would be very dangerous for
you; you told him you had been ill," Lucy interposed.
"I did," Lawrence agreed. "Of course if the fellow had wanted to make
an end of me, it's obvious that he took a clever line; but people don't
do that kind of thing for nothing. Suppose he was a friend of Daly's,
it certainly wouldn't have suited the latter's plans."
"That," said Mrs. Stephen, "is what Lucy and I thought. You can be
frank, Mr. Foster, because we know Lawrence's story."
"He was very wise to tell it you," Foster replied, and turned to his
partner. "You imagined that Daly only wanted to extort money? Well,
my explanation is that he had another object. We'll go back to the
night Fred Hulton was shot. You thought you saw the watchman in the
passage; was he far in front?"
"Perhaps a dozen yards; it's a long passage."
"He was going towards the office and stopped at the door, with his back
to the light?"
"Yes; if he'd gone in I would have seen his face."
"And the remark you made indicated that you thought him the watchman ?"
"Suggested it," said Lawrence thoughtfully. "There might have been a
doubt."
"Exactly! The man saw you. The light shone out from the office behind
him."
"Yes," said Lawrence, "I see your point. I don't think the fellow
could have been certain I didn't get a glimpse of his face."
"You said nothing about the meeting at the inquiry, which might look as
if you had been warned not to do so."
"Nobody asked a question that led up to it. I didn't learn he wasn't
the watchman until afterwards."
Foster turned to the others. "I think my story has shown you that we
have to deal with a gang of clever criminals. You'll note that
Lawrence saw the only man who knows the truth about Fred Hulton's
death."
Mrs. Stephen made a sign of understanding. Lucy shivered, then her
eyes sparkled angrily, but Lawrence looked obstinate.
"Jake," he said rather dryly, "you ought to have been a barrister! You
have made a clever use of the evidence, but it has some weak points and
leaves room for doubt. What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to start again to-morrow to look for Daly," Foster replied.
Lucy gave him a grateful glance, and Mrs. Stephen began to talk about
something else. By and by she turned to Lawrence, who looked tired,
and reminded him that it was past the time at which he ought to go to
bed. He grumbled a little but went, and soon afterwards Mrs. Stephen
left the others. Foster thought the girl wished this, but had not
noticed that she gave her mother a hint. He felt rather awkward, but
there was something to be said.
"I suppose you are going to marry my partner," he remarked.
"Yes," she replied, with a pretty flush. "Are you surprised?"
"I'm not surprised that he should wish it. But somehow I hadn't
contemplated Lawrence's marrying."