"But suppose he had an attack and had been taken in as you suggest," interrupted Gale; "surely it is impossible to suppose that such a circumstance would not be reported somewhere? Mr. Thornton would have sent word to the hotel sooner or later, don't you think?"
"Yes; that is reasonable."
"I had thought of that idea myself, but, on consideration I dismissed it as quite untenable. Mr. Thornton, I have come to the conclusion, has either disappeared intentionally, or he is dead. Now I can see nothing to indicate an intentional disappearance: the state of his health would seem absolutely to forbid it."
"Then you think he is dead?" asked Gilbert, as Gale paused.
"I can't say, please remember, but it looks rather like it."
"But what about the body?"
"Oh, bodies can be made to disappear."
"Do you mean that you think he has been murdered?"
"I won't go so far," said Gale, cautiously, "but Mr. Thornton was a rich man, and probably had valuables about him; he was in a weak, feeble state, and so would fall an easy victim. And it was late in the evening when he went out. I am afraid it is possible—I will not say probable, for there is no evidence—that he was murdered the night he left the hotel."
"Is it not dreadful? I've been thinking much the same. But how did you know he was rich?"