“I told Nasmyth that you taught him to see.”
“I suppose I did,” acknowledged Lisle. “Still, it was only as far as it concerned the things that I’m acquainted with. I’m not sure that my meaning’s very clear?”
“I understand. You knew what to expect; that carries one a long way. Were you disappointed in finding it?”
He was a little surprised at her keenness, and rather confused. This was a question that could not be directly answered.
“What I was more particularly referring to was the meaning of such things as a broken branch, a gap in a thicket, or a few displaced stones,” he explained. “I taught him what to infer from those.”
“Yes,” she said; “I understand that you discovered nothing new—I mean nothing that could throw any further light upon what befell my brother after the others left him.”
He was glad that he could answer her candidly.
“No; we can only suppose that the conclusions the rescue party came to were correct. But all that we found relating to the week or two before the separation spoke of the courageous struggle that your brother made and his generosity in sending the others away.”
She bent her head.
“That,” she said quietly, “is only what one would have expected. He left a diary; you must come over and see it.”