"Success is the very wine of life, and it was scarcely strange that Mr. Carter should feel pleased at having succeeded in finding a clue to the mystery that had so completely baffled his colleagues. So long as I had believed in Henry Dunbar's guilt, I had felt no compunction as to the task I was engaged in. I had even caught something of the detective's excitement in the chase. But now, now that I knew the shame and anguish which our discovery must inevitably entail upon the woman I loved, my heart sank within me, and I hated Mr. Carter for his ardent enjoyment of his triumph.
"'You don't mind travelling by the mail-train, do you, Mr. Austin?' the detective said, presently.
"'Not particularly; but why do you ask me?'
"'Because I shall leave Winchester by the mail to-night.'
"'What for?'
"'To get as fast as I can to Maudesley Abbey, where I shall have the honour of arresting Mr. Joseph Wilmot.'
"So soon! I shuddered at the rapid course of justice when once a criminal mystery is revealed.
"'But what if you should be mistaken! What if Joseph Wilmot was the victim and not the murderer?"
"'In that case I shall soon discover my mistake. If the man at Maudesley Abbey is Henry Dunbar, there must be plenty of people able to identify him.'
"'But Henry Dunbar has been away five-and-thirty years.'