The reporter grinned. “I didn’t know it either a month ago,” he responded. “But I got married and——”
“Married? Good for you! Accept congratulations!”
“Thank you. My wife wanted to visit Russia in a hurry, and so—here we are. But that’s enough about me. How about yourself? There’s an incendiary tale afloat about your doings. Any truth in it?”
“Too much! Come over here and sit down, and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
Rapidly, Caruth poured his tale into the reporter’s sympathetic ears. He kept nothing back, as he had done in his first talk in New York. He told about Wilkins’s arrival; explained about the letters; and sketched rapidly the organization and the departure of the expedition and the events, so far as he knew them, that had taken place at Burndo Island.
“The situation is all in a muddle,” he ended. “I suppose Wilkins got away with the gold, though I can’t imagine how he did it. And I suppose the Professor was knocked overboard and drowned. But I can’t understand what has become of the girl.”
Bristow leaned back in his chair. “If I remember correctly,” he premised slowly, “I favored you in New York with certain moralizations on the way events fit in together. I’ll add to that now that if you hunt back far enough, you can find a common cause for a good many events that at first blush seem unrelated. You don’t know it, of course, but I have a direct personal interest in this affair. You see, I have known Professor Shishkin and his daughter for several years. In fact, Miss Shishkin is now my wife.”
“What!” Caruth half rose from his seat.
“Take it easy! I don’t mean that the girl you had on board this yacht is my wife. God forbid! As a matter of fact, that lady is not Professor Shishkin’s daughter at all. She is an alleged actress, drafted from the music hall stage by the Professor and cast for the part of his daughter. Now perhaps you begin to see a glimmer of light.”
But Caruth shook his head. “No, I don’t,” he returned. “Why should Professor Shishkin palm off somebody else as his daughter? It’s all a tangle of fraud and deceit. You go on and explain, please. My brain is buzzing.”