Hour after hour passed, and Mr. Johnson did not return to his hotel, where I was waiting for him, and I began to get alarmed. I was just about to set out in search, of him, when he arrived, looking crushed and heartbroken, and there was appearance of tears on his blanched cheeks. It must have been a terrible meeting, but I never heard a full account of what took place; he was only authorised to tell me what had been carefully written for him on a sheet of notepaper. The following is a copy of the statement, which was in Lord Seamord's handwriting:—
"Mdlle. Rousell was the innocent cause of what has occurred. I fell madly in love with her, and determined to carry her off. Under a promise of marriage she met me clandestinely, unknown to anyone. My plans were complete when her death occurred. It was my blame, but I have never in my life raised my hand in violence to a woman. To save her honour she stabbed herself to the heart. I had good reasons for believing that I was being watched by the police, and to prevent the disgrace to my family of my being tried for murder, I, with the assistance of Simmons and a doctor attached to the hospital, pretended to die, and a dead body was secretly conveyed into the house and interred at Craigmillar. It was my wishing to make assurance doubly sure, and destroy all possible traces of the deception which has led to the discovery. I shall never resume the title again, and to all intents and purposes I am legally dead. My wife may rejoin me if it pleases her. Mr. Johnson has my instructions."
He did not deserve it, but his wife, on the pretence of entering a convent, soon hastened to his side. Women, always excepting mothers-in-law, are so forgiving.
CHAPTER XI.
TAKING A MEAN ADVANTAGE OF A FIRE.
Important disclosures— The fire at the theatre—The evidence of the opera glasses—The startling meeting at the Inns of Court Hotel.
The dreadful disaster at Vienna brings back vividly to my mind strange incidents connected with the burning down of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, sixteen years ago.
"I am in a terrible mess, old fellow!" exclaimed Augustus Graham, as he hurriedly entered my office in Edinburgh one morning in the year 1865.
"Sit down," I said, "and let us put our heads together. Perhaps a way may be found out of the maze."