“I wish I could feel as you do. But, somehow, as each day passes, I begin to lose heart more and more, and yesterday, when I saw my dear boy, looking so ill and miserable, I thought my heart would have broken.”
“Yes, I knew you would feel it keenly, and wanted you to stay at home. Perhaps it is as well that you will not be permitted to see him again—until honour and freedom are restored to him. Picture how happy we shall all be then!”
“I will try, dear kind friends, I will try. And what do I not owe you already! Without you to hearten me up, when I am tempted to doubt Providence, I should have fretted myself into my grave before this time. But don’t you think we should have the telegram which Hilton promised to send from Malta soon? Shouldn’t it be here to-day or to-morrow?”
“I suppose it should. Only we must, of course, make allowances for possible bad weather and other causes of detention.”
“Yes, yes, I won’t be impatient again.”
Mrs. Riddell, utterly crushed by the suddenness and severity of her recent troubles, was prone to despondency and melancholy. It was fortunate for her that she had found such a firm, cheerful, and hopeful friend as Miss Cory to cheer her now childless loneliness. Annie, too, though she took her lover’s fate sadly to heart, was fain to do her utmost to keep up the health and spirits of both herself and others.
“There may be important work before me,” she was apt to say, “and I should feel ashamed of myself if I were to allow myself to become incapable of doing it.”
So she kept herself fully occupied with healthy employment, took her food regularly, and held herself in readiness for action at any moment. On the afternoon during which the above conversation took place between Mrs. Riddell and Miss Cory, Annie had been with her father to see a private detective whom they were employing to make inquiries concerning Hugh Stavanger. But although the man gleaned proofs that the individual whose past he was trying to investigate had spent a great deal of money lately, he could discover nothing to connect him with the diamond robbery.
“Never mind,” said Annie bravely, as they were walking homewards again. “We shall hear from Hilton soon, and he is not likely to lose sight of Hugh Stavanger, so that he can be arrested as soon as we are ready with our proofs. When Mr. Lyon comes home, we will have him subpœnaed as a witness, whether he likes it or not.”
“I don’t think we can rely upon him,” said Mr. Cory.