“It seems to you now that it was a foolish thing for you to do, to tell the conductor that Orizaba was dead,” he said, “but I will assure you that it was in reality the most sensible thing you have done in this whole affair. Now, two or three more questions, and then we will start at once for the Fells. We should be able to get there, I think, before the body of Ramon Orizaba is discovered, since it is not likely that any one will enter your room at this hour in the morning.”
CHAPTER V.
BROKEN LINKS IN THE CHAIN OF CLUES.
“What are the other questions, Mr. Carter?” asked Danton.
“I merely want you to tell me in as few words as possible the other story you have referred to several times.”
“It is only about Ramon Orizaba.”
“That is why I wish to hear it.”
“I first knew of his existence about five years ago; I think, also, that my mother heard of him for the first time then. He came to her, during my absence, with letters of introduction which are said to have established his relationship to her. I have never correctly understood what that relationship is, more than that he was a distant cousin on her mother’s side of the family. Nevertheless, Mr. Carter, I have long been convinced that there was something—some relationship, some power, some parcel of family history, some deviltry of some kind somewhere, which accounted for the studied insolence he often assumed to me and to others, and more than once, in his cups, he has as much as told me that it was out of my power to drive him out of the family.”
“You are making a strong insinuation against your own family, Danton.”
“I insinuate nothing against my mother; you must not understand me in that way. She is, and always has been, the soul of goodness. She is so good that she would suffer untold tortures to protect others, if she considered it a part of her duty to another to do so. It is some hold like that which this man had upon her, in my opinion.”
“But you do not even conjecture what it was?”