Dudley repeated his question before Max had recovered from the shock of his surprise.
"Yes," said he at last, "he has got away."
But Dudley detected some reserve in his manner, or perhaps his own suspicions were aroused. He looked searchingly at Max, and asked abruptly:
"Is he dead?"
Max looked at him askance.
"Yes," he said at last.
Dudley lay back in his pillows.
"Thank God!"
And Max knew by the look of intense relief on his friend's face that he had done right in telling him the truth.
But, indeed, Max could not guess how intense the relief was from the burden of the secret which Dudley had had to bear for so long; and undoubtedly the discovery that it was a secret no longer, that the necessity for concealment was now over, helped his recovery materially.