"Don't mention it."
"How much do I owe your concern for this service?"
"Couldn't tell you," asserted Flynn. "Won't know until the bills come in, and that will take a month or more. I'll have them tabbed up and send you a statement, you send a cheque and that will end it."
"If there is anything I can do for you I—"
"Nothing," interrupted Flynn, "unless you should happen to run across the New York plutocrat who hires me. You might tell him that unless he tilts my salary he is likely to lose the most valuable man who ever produced dividends for him."
"I'll do that!" I declared, and I meant it.
Two hours later my train rumbled out of the station and headed for Scotland. I had been supremely satisfied with my progress during the day, but when I began to analyse the situation I was unable to discover any sound basis for self-congratulation.
I merely had ascertained her probable location. That did not improve my prospects. I had not the slightest reason to believe that she had changed her attitude toward me, and I had no right to assume that she would receive, much less listen to me. She might be married, and probably was. I thought of these things and fell from the fool's heaven to which I had climbed.
But on I went toward Scotland. I would drink the cup to its lees. I foil into a troubled sleep, and after a miserable night did not know whether to be pleased or scared that I had finished the longer stage of my journey.
The early morning train from out Edinburgh's dingy station carried one passenger who paid small attention to the scenery between the beautiful capital of Scotland and its famous university town. My one thought when we crossed over the great bridge which spans the Firth of Forth was that it was unconscionably long, and that the train slackened its speed in taking it.