When Jack and the others reached Belgrave Square, Barmouth had already removed the strips of plaster from his face, and was walking up and down his study with the restless air of one whose mind is ill at ease. All the same, he seemed to divine the cause of Benin's presence, for he held out his hand and smiled gratefully.
"I know you come to me in the guise of a friend, Doctor Benin," he said. "Is it too much to hope that you can cure me as you cured my friend Ferris?"
"There is no doubt about it whatever," the Frenchman said. "It is all a matter of an operation on the muscles of the face. You will be yourself again; even that horrible yellow tinge will disappear from your skin. I should like, if possible, to operate upon Seymour and yourself at the same time. I dare say you have some quiet country place that we could go to?"
There was more than one such retreat, as Barmouth proceeded to explain. They talked over the matter eagerly and earnestly for some time, until a message arrived that Mr. Anstruther earnestly desired an interview with Lord Barmouth. The latter started and shook his head. He had no disposition whatever to see Anstruther again. But as he thought the matter over, kindlier thoughts prevailed. After all, the man was past all power of mischief, and despite the way in which he had carried himself off, must have felt his position most keenly. On the whole, Barmouth decided to go.
He found Anstruther pacing up and down his roomy cell. The man looked haggard and drawn. Well as he had himself in hand, Anstruther's twitching lips betrayed his emotion.
"I dare say you wonder why I sent for you," he said. "You need not be afraid of me; they have rendered me quite harmless. They have even taken away my watch and chain and money. Why they left me this little pearl-headed scarf pin I don't know--probably they overlooked it. It is these little careless things which prevent the Force from being quite as efficient as it might be."
Anstruther smiled in a peculiar way as he spoke. But Barmouth did not appear to notice. Anstruther walked up and down the cell, talking freely as he went.
"It was exceedingly good of you to come," he said, "especially as I have done you so grievous a wrong. You will be perhaps pleased to hear that all the sufferings I underwent in Mexico were wasted. I never so much as laid my hand upon an ounce of the gold for which I risked my life; indeed, at the end I just contrived to save my mere existence. When I sent for you to-day it was most sincerely to ask you to pardon me for all the harm that I have done to you and others. I was going to tell you in any case the means by which you could be restored to your normal appearance. If the case went against me to-day I had determined to write to you and give you the address of Doctor Benin. But when I saw him in court to-day I knew perfectly well that you and he had already met, and, therefore, there was no reason for me to say anything. You and I have always been antagonistic; I do not bear you any ill will for that."
"And I can assure you that there is no ill will on my side," Barmouth replied. "Mind you, I cannot forget all the sufferings that I have undergone at your hands. It is strange what men will do when the greed for gold is upon them, and how little good does it tend to when the gold comes. Only a few hours ago I was longing to meet you face to face under such conditions as would render your death a secret. I would have killed you like a dog, I always meant to kill you. When I was paying blackmail to you under a name other than my own I was ever plotting the opportunity which would have betrayed you into my hands. I should have deemed it no crime to have rid the world of a scoundrel like yourself. And yet, as God is my witness, when I see you here like this, an outcast and a felon, when I think of the terrible way in which your great talents have been wasted, I have nothing but pity for your lamentable condition."
Anstruther took a step forward, the veins on his forehead knotted, his hands were clenched in a paroxysm of passion.