She had had ample time to do so, for he was obliged to stop every little while to rest and recover his breath.
“That is right,” he said; “don’t leave out anything, for I must make a clean breast of it all, now that I have begun; and, miss, if the thing can be done, I want that handsome young chap—and he’s a lawyer, I hear—to bring Tom Drake to justice, for a bigger rascal does not walk the earth. Why, miss, if you will believe me, he pocketed all the swag, and I never got so much as a penny’s worth of it for my share in that night’s job.”
“But I thought you told me that you wore it concealed upon your person at the time of Mr. Wayne’s trial?” Editha said, regarding him in surprise, and thinking his statements did not correspond very well.
“And so we did, miss—the diamonds—we didn’t dare hide them with the other stuff, for fear they might happen to be found, and so they were sewed into the lining of our vests; but after awhile Tom said he’d found a chance to send them off and turn them into money, and took those I had away from me. I’ve never seen anything of them since—he never would tell me whether he had sold them or not, and I’ve never had a dollar for my share in that job. I was raving mad over it, until I had that fall, and then since I’ve been sick and had a chance to think it all over, I’ve been glad that I didn’t get anything.”
The invalid was here interrupted by another coughing turn, and, while Editha was waiting for it to pass, she happened to cast her eye toward the window back of the bed, and there a sight greeted her that seemed to stop the beating of her heart, and freeze the blood in her veins, and a numbness seized her limbs, rendering her powerless to move for the time being. It was the face of a man—and such a face!—pressed close against the pane, and his ear—an ear with part of the lobe gone—covering a small hole in the glass.
He was a “burly-looking man,” with an “ugly face” on him, “heavy jaws,” and “fierce,” restless “black eyes.”
His hair, too, was red, and—there could be but one person in the world answering to that description.
In an instant—in that one flash of her eyes, Editha had recognized Tom Drake, the burglar and midnight robber!
How long had he been there? How much had he heard, and did he recognize her as John Loker had done? were the thoughts that flashed through her brain during that brief moment that her quick, startled glance rested upon that appalling sight. Her first impulse was to cry out with fright, but with an effort she controlled it, and glanced hastily at the other occupant of her room, to see whether they were in any danger of also discovering the presence of the listener.
She was glad to find that she alone was conscious of it.