“He knew me, dear, when I came yesterday.”
“Oh, yes! and he knows me well enough. He talks sensibly about what is going on around him. But that night when he was struck down, the blows seemed to break away the connection between the present and the past. The physician, who has seen him, says very little, but I can see that he considers the case hopeless.”
“Oh, don’t say that, dear! We must all hope. I hope to be something better some day than a poor teacher. Come up now, and help me to persuade Mark to have in the police.”
“No, no!” cried Rich hastily.
“Why not, dear? Think what it means if it is true about the diamonds, and we could get them back.”
“But it cannot be true, Janet; and as to the police, they make me shudder. They were at our house this morning to see Hendon, and with him my father, to try whether they could revive his memory, and get hold of a clue to those men who came to our house that night, and they have found out nothing. They say they are straining every nerve now to find that poor boy. They think he must hold the clue.”
“I think I could find it all out if I tried,” said Janet. “Had your father any enemies?”
Richmond shook her head.
“Any one to whom he owed money?”
Richmond started, and her thoughts reverted to Poynter.