Elizabeth looked at him steadily.
“Was that when my grandfather was supposed to have given them help?”
“Yes,” answered Colonel Thomas. “They wanted to find another way to get in.”
Elizabeth said nothing. But she thought of the old map with its center gone.
“But I don’t believe it!” said she stubbornly.
Colonel Thomas acted upon impulse.
“I have been making some investigations,” said he, quite as though he had not determined to say nothing whatever to Elizabeth about his investigations. “I looked again at General Adams’s letter. His statement about John Baring is followed by a row of asterisks, signifying that something was omitted at that place. They may have forced your grandfather—that would be a mitigation. If I find anything, I’ll straighten the matter out publicly; I promise you that!”
Then he rose to go.
“My brother will be back soon. I wish he might have seen you.”
“I’d like to see him. But I’m a little late for an appointment now. I’ll come another time. I’m old-fashioned and I don’t like to think of you here all by yourself.”