She sat very pale and quiet and listened till I had done. Then she said—
“I should like to see him.”
“Perhaps it is as well,” I answered. “If you can bear it, come at once, and do you come also, Anscombe.”
We went to the room, Anscombe and Heda holding each other by the hand. I unlocked the door and, entering, threw open a shutter. There sat the dead man as I had left him, only his head had fallen over a little. She gazed at him, trembling, then advanced and kissed his cold forehead, muttering,
“Good-bye, father. Oh! good-bye, father.”
A thought struck me, and I asked—
“Is there any place here where your father locked up things? As I have shown you, you are his heiress, and if so it might be as well in this house that you should possess yourself of his property.”
“There is a safe in the corner,” she answered, “of which he always kept the key in his trouser pocket.”
“Then with your leave I will open it in your presence.”
Going to the dead man I searched his pocket and found in it a bunch of keys. These I withdrew and went to the safe over which a skin rug was thrown. I unlocked it easily enough. Within were two bags of gold, each marked £100; also another larger bag marked “My wife’s jewelry. For Heda”; also some papers and a miniature of the lady whose portrait hung in the sitting-room; also some loose gold.