“Well, I thought it was he, but I might have been mistaken,” replied the tutor, who did not want to say anything that would add to the old man’s fears.
“Don’t deceive me. I heard your voice plain enough, and that was what you said. Never mind, Bob. We’ll soon be far enough away from him, and able to enjoy life in our own way. Now I will go back to bed. No; the men had to take themselves off without getting anything,” he added, to the servants who came flocking into the room at that moment. “I wish you would find out where they got in and shut the window or door, whichever it is. Clifford Henderson! That man isn’t going to let me forget him, is he?” he muttered to himself. “I must see him and tell him that if he does not leave town I shall have him arrested. I shall remember the tutor for this.”
And in the meantime where was Clifford Henderson? You know that before he went into this business he drew his money from the bank and packed his trunk for a long journey. He saw the need of it now. He never travelled faster than he did when he rushed from that door. He saw Scanlan in the act of lifting the boy from the bed after throwing the quilt about him, but did not stop to speak to him. He made for the stairs, two jumps took him to the front door, and paying no heed to the friend he had left behind in a bad scrape, he ran through and locked the door behind him. And he had heard his name mentioned, too!
“I declare I am done for now,” muttered Henderson, as he took his best pace down the sidewalk, utterly forgetful that there was a carriage in waiting for him, “and the next thing will be to avoid the police that my brother sets after me. For he will arrest me as sure as I live. Scanlan will be arrested too, and there is that paper I gave him with my name signed to it. Ow! Ow! Don’t I wish that everybody was in danger the same as I am?”
If Henderson hadn’t been so frightened that he was unable to look behind him, he would have seen Scanlan come out of the basement door and take his flight in another direction; but Henderson couldn’t think of anything but the tutor’s stentorian voice. “I know you and you had better halt!” It seemed to ring in his ears louder than ever the farther he got from the house, so that he increased his pace, and the first thing he knew ran slap into the arms of a policeman, who happened at that moment to come around the corner.
“Hallo, here!” cried the officer. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“Do you know whether or not the Commonwealth has sailed from this port yet?” asked Henderson.
“No, I don’t!” answered the officer.
“Well, my trunk is at my hotel, already packed, and I am in haste to catch her. I hope I shall get there before she sails.”
“Why don’t you take a carriage?”