Finally, Hilliston! It is hard to say what has become of that gentleman. After the death of his second wife, he withdrew from business and went abroad. There I believe he is still, and from what I hear of him at odd times he seems to have developed into a kind of Wandering Jew. France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Russia, he has seen all these places, and is constantly traveling about, no doubt trying to live down the past. Whether he will succeed in doing so it is hard to say.
After some consideration I have come to the conclusion that we have been rather hard on Hilliston. He did not love Mrs. Larcher, in spite of his wife's insane jealousy on the point, and I believe he was sincerely attached to Mona Bantry. The blot on his character is that he did not marry her when she first came to London, and seeing that he was in love with her, I profess my inability to explain why he did not do so. Perhaps it was on account of her low birth, or the circumstances which connected her with Jeringham, but at all events he did not marry her till it was too late for the poor creature's happiness. Otherwise I do not see how he could have acted differently. Louisa Sinclair was guilty of the murder, but as she did it on his account, and was wildly in love with him, it was to his honor that he protected her as he did. Whether he would have told the truth had Mrs. Larcher been convicted I do not know, but as Louisa Sinclair did not leave for America till Mrs. Larcher was released, I think Hilliston would have persuaded her to confess openly in the event of a conviction.
It is true that he married her for her money, but I think he was touched by her devotion, and gave her some love. No doubt it was Mrs. Hilliston's remorse for condemning his father to lifelong seclusion that made her so kind to Claude when he was a lad. Now it is easy to see why Hilliston was reluctant that Claude and I should investigate the case. He was afraid lest the truth should be found out, and his wife arrested. I was wrong in my surmise. Hilliston was not afraid for himself, but for the unhappy woman who had killed Jeringham in mistake for him. The whole mystery would have been solved years ago had Dicky Pental spoken out as he should have done. But the fear of being shut up in an asylum closed his mouth, and so the case was at a standstill for five-and-twenty long years.
It was strange that Jenny, who set the ball rolling, should have been the indirect means of avenging her father's murder—or rather of solving the mystery which concealed it. Had she not discovered those papers in the garret, she would not have been able to give Frank Linton the plot of "A Whim of Fate." Had that novel not been written and published, Mrs. Bezel would not have read it, and thereby have been induced to write to Claude. Had she not done so, Hilliston would not have told Claude the truth, thence we would not have taken up the investigation and solved the mystery. It was Jenny who was responsible for the whole. After five-and-twenty years the child of the murdered man unconsciously enlightened us as to the person who had slain him. Fate works in strange ways.
But I do not wish to figure further as a detective. This one experience has been quite enough for me. The thought, the anguish, the trouble is too worrying. The next criminal case in the Larcher family can look after itself. I abandon the rôle of detective, and thus put the last word to my only criminal case.
THE END.
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