Until this moment he seemed to be unconscious that he held the weapon, and now he started and allowed it to drop to the ground.
"Give thanks to God," I said solemnly, "that I stepped forward in time to save the life of an innocent child."
"Great God!" he murmured. "It is fit that I should die!"
The silver chimes of the clock proclaimed the hour of two. He smiled piteously and gratefully, and said, "It is almost time."
"There is a hidden meaning in your words," I said. "What have you done?"
"Doctor, you are wrong. There is no hidden meaning in my words. All is clear and plain. What should I do to myself? What should be done to such a man as I? You are not deceiving me. You found me, you say, at the door of my daughter's room, with the dagger in my hand?"
"It is true."
"Then my purpose was murder. What further confirmation is needed of the truth of my father's revelation? Be thankful, doctor, that your son Reginald has escaped from my daughter, my miserable, unhappy child. Ah, me! Whose fate is the heaviest, hers or mine, or the innocent flower I married?"
"I can give you some comfort," I said. "In one respect I can set your heart at ease."
"Impossible, impossible!" he cried.