He looked the Governor steadily in the eyes as he spoke and the other, a keen judge of men, with a knowledge, bred of long life and observation, of the workings of the human conscience, felt a strange inclination to believe. Yet for every criminal there must be a first crime. Given a good family name and the remnant of a conscience, the man's insistence could be accounted for! With a little sigh he turned to Mason.
"Shall I see you at the Castlemans to-night?" he asked as they shook hands.
"I'm dining at the Langhams," Mason replied. "It's a farewell dinner for Miss Allen."
"A charming girl, Echo!" said the Governor. "I've known her since she was a child. A farewell, did you say? Is her visit over?"
"Yes, she's off to Europe to-morrow."
The lawyer went with the Governor to the door and stood a moment looking after him as he crossed the lawn to his carriage. He did not see the look that had suddenly slipped to the face of the man standing behind him—a look mingled of sudden wonder and questioning disquiet.
To Europe! Echo? Was she going away now ... knowing it all ... knowing what he had passed through, what lay before him? Going without written word or secret sign to him?
Harry felt a strange sinking of the heart. It seemed to him as if a cold shadow had suddenly fallen across the room—a shadow in which lurked something vague and formless, something whose existence his faith denied, yet which stood silently staring at him with a cruel and terrifying smile.