“It looks as though he were guilty,” observed Alan with a groan.
“It does,” assented Latimer quickly; “but it is just as well that he has got away, and so avoided arrest and trial, and probably hanging. I don’t expect you’ll set eyes on him again or on Jotty either, as maybe he has taken the lad with him.”
“Why should he do that?”
“Jotty—as I always suspected—knows too much, and Sorley wants to get him out of the way.”
“It is too late,” replied Fuller doubtfully. “Jotty has given us the letter, and has told us enough to hang Sorley unless the man has a very good defence. Probably he hasn’t any, else he would have stood his ground. Oh, my poor Marie, how dreadful it is for you to have a criminal for an uncle.”
Dick patted Alan’s shoulder. “See here, old son,” he remarked with rough sympathy, “I was annoyed when I heard that the man had bolted. Now I am very glad for your sake. As I said you won’t hear of Sorley again. So go to work and solve the riddle of the peacock; marry Marie and tell Bakche he can go back to India with his tail between his legs.”
“But Sorley has probably taken the bird with him.”
“What does that matter? You have the drawing, and can solve the riddle from that, as you have always expected to do. The mystery of Grison’s death is an open secret now, Alan, my boy, so let the past bury itself, and look forward to your marriage with the girl, and possession of the treasure.”
Fuller nodded in an absent-minded way, but did not reply. Before he could make up his mind what to say, there came a knock at the door, and Seymour, who was the solicitor’s one and only clerk, appeared with the intelligence that a lady wished to see his employer. Thinking that this was a client, Latimer moved into the outer office, only to come face to face with Marie. The girl looked ill, and all the bright color of her face had faded to a dull white, while there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Miss Inderwick,” cried Dick in amazement, and, on hearing the name, Alan appeared at the door with a look of equal astonishment. The last thing in the world expected by either man was the visit to London of Marie.