"Merciful God, sir!" he whispered huskily, "how did you come to be here? What is the matter? Are you ill?"
Dr. Cairn extended his hands like one groping in darkness.
"Rob, give me a moment, to think, to collect myself. Why am I here? By all that is wonderful, why are you here?"
"I am here to meet you."
"To meet me! I had no idea that you were well enough for the journey, and if you came to meet me, why—"
"That's it, sir! Why did you send me that wireless?"
"I sent no wireless, boy!"
Robert Cairn, with a little colour returning to his pale cheeks, advanced and grasped his father's hand.
"But after I arrived here to meet the boat, sir I received a wireless from the P. and O. due in the morning, to say that you had changed your mind, and come via Brindisi."
Dr. Cairn glanced at the dagger upon the carpet, repressed a shudder, and replied in a voice which he struggled to make firm: