“Where is she now?” the younger man repeated, “why, do you not know?”
“If I did, I should not come to you for information. Listen to me,” he rapidly proceeded, “I would give my right hand to know where she is. I would give a man anything almost he liked to ask, if he only proved to me she were alive and well. You were fond of her, were you not, boy? it vexes you to hear that there is no one belonging to her, no one on whom she has a claim—not even myself who can say where she is, whether living or dead; but what is your trouble to mine? When I looked in your face a moment since, my last hope vanished. I thought perhaps she might have gone to Heather—to Mrs. Dudley, I mean.”
“Would you have me understand that she never went off with you?” Alick interrupted. He stood still in the very middle of Berrie Down Lane as he spoke, and the shifting light gave a wild, curious expression to his face. “Do you think I am so simple as to believe——”
“My dear fellow, I do not think you simple, and it is immaterial to me what you believe; but I want to know where your cousin is to be found. I desire, at least, assurance of her safety, comfort, and—should such a miracle be possible—happiness.”
“And by what right do you dare to ask anything about her,” demanded Alick; “you a married man, you who never ought to have written her a line, or met her, or—or——”
“I did not beg you to walk on here with me to-night in order to answer your questions,” Mr. Croft interrupted; “my object was merely to put one or two of my own. To my first, your face has already replied. I see you know nothing of your cousin’s whereabouts. If you should do so, will you at all events let me know that you have heard from or seen her, and that she is well?”
“No,” Alick Dudley replied, “I will not.”
“That settles my second question,” observed Mr. Croft. “Now, the last point on which I desire information is this: does Mrs. Dudley know we have met before, and where?”
“She knows I have seen you,” was the answer; “but I have not told her when, or where, or what I suspect.”
“That is to say, Mrs. Dudley does not in any way connect me with your cousin’s disappearance?” Mr. Croft remarked inquiringly; and when Alick answered in the affirmative, he proceeded: