“It certainly is,� replied the detective.
Then Lynne left the pearls in the detective’s hands, and returned to the interior of the great safe.
“There are some securities that I think I will take away with me, now that I am here,â€� he remarked, as if casually, and he opened another compartment inside the safe—and Nick felt that the moment had arrived.
It had.
Lynne suddenly started back a half-suppressed exclamation; then he cried out, with all the theatrical art that he possessed:
“No, no! It is not possible! I will not believe it. Oh! oh! oh! This is the worst blow of all!� Then he turned slowly around, and added, as one who is overcome by sorrow: “Mr. Carter, I am very sorry now that I brought you here. I might have hidden all this, and now you must know. Look. Come here and look. It is best that you should.�
The compartment into which the detective peered when he stepped forward was about half filled with bonds, which Nick saw at a glance were negotiable ones; and on the top of them, unfolded, face up, was a short note in that same hand that had written the letter found in the room of death. Here was the evidence, then, that the fiend had prepared. The note was:
“Forgive me, papa. I have only taken half, but I had to do so. I will not tell you why, only that it was not for myself, but for another. I would die rather than that you should know all the truth, and I have partly determined to die before you can know it.
“Edythe.�
So this fiend in human guise, not content with taking the life of that beautiful girl, that pure, sweet, young life, had attempted to steal her honor also, and had not hesitated to cast an unthinkable imputation upon her, even then.