“I know him well, and I am convinced he 'd not survive it. Why, the very thought of the accusation, the bare idea that he could be arraigned as a criminal, so overcame him here this morning that he staggered back and sunk into that chair, half fainting.”
“He thinks that he was not known at that hotel where he stopped?”
“He is quite confident of that; the manner of the waiters towards him convinces him that he was not recognized.”
“Nor has he spoken with any one since his arrival, except yourself?”
“Not one, save the hackney carman, who evidently did not know him.”
“He left home, you say, without a servant?”
“Yes! he merely said that he was going over for a day or two, to the mines, and would be back by the end of the week. But, latterly, he has often absented himself in this fashion; and, having spoken of visiting one place, has changed his mind and gone to another, in an opposite direction.”
“Who has seen him since he arrived here?”
“No one but myself and Raper.”
“Ah! Raper has seen him?”