Daniel duly posted it and the man whose duty it was to deliver the note at Hangman’s Hut left it with Mr Beer at the Warren Inn.
Johnny put it aside until his wife should presently visit Minnie; but it happened that the note was overlooked until evening. Then, after nine o’clock, Titus Sim called upon his way to Mrs Sweetland, and he, after all, was the bearer of the great communication which told Dan’s wife that she was not a widow.
Events now rushed upon each other with such speed that to tell the story of them in exact sequence becomes difficult. For the present we are concerned with the meeting between Sim and the woman he desired to marry.
At another time Sim would have inspected the letter that he carried and, perhaps, noting that it came from Henry Vivian, whose hand he well knew, the footman, in obedience to his instincts, might have mastered the contents before delivering it. But Sim was full of his own affairs to-night. They had reached a climax. Much hung upon the next few hours, and his own devious career was destined to culminate before another sun rose. A great enterprise awaited him, and upon it he now prepared to embark.
Minnie sat alone beside her lamp, and the man approached her with his face full of news. Something in the way that he touched her hand told her of what was coming.
“Rix Parkinson is dead!” she cried.
“He is, Minnie; but how did you know that?”
She marked his use of her Christian name. It savoured of a sort of insolent right, and she resented it with a look, but not in words. Then she replied to his question.
“I knew it the moment that you came in, Mr Sim. Your face told me. He has not left us long to wait, poor fellow.”
“He went easily.”