As the outer door slammed the man sat down with an air of bewilderment; and then, suddenly flinging his arms on the table, he dropped his head on them and burst into a passion of sobbing.
It was very embarrassing. With one accord Thorndyke and I turned to go, but Mrs. Chater motioned us to stay. Stepping over to the man, she touched him lightly on the arm.
“Why did you do it?” she asked in a tone of gentle reproach.
The man sat up and flung out one arm in an eloquent gesture that comprehended the miserable room and the yawning cupboard.
“It was the temptation of a moment,” he said. “I was penniless, and those accursed diamonds were thrust in my face; they were mine for the taking. I was mad, I suppose.”
“But why didn’t you take them?” she said. “Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know. The madness passed; and then—when I saw you lying there—— Oh, God! Why don’t you give me up to the police?” He laid his head down and sobbed afresh.
Mrs. Chater bent over him with tears standing in her pretty grey eyes. “But tell me,” she said, “why didn’t you take the diamonds? You could if you’d liked, I suppose?”
“What good were they to me?” he demanded passionately. “What did any thing matter to me? I thought you were dead.”
“Well, I’m not, you see,” she said, with a rather tearful smile; “I’m just as well as an old woman like me can expect to be. And I want your address, so that I can write and give you some good advice.”