“And you are crying over her woes! Ah, Miss Dorothy! you have seen little of this world’s sorrows. All around they lie, but the loving care of your father has kept you free from them.”
“Yes, I have been reflecting. It never came to me before. Adela’s sad story has shamed me. From this hour, Mr. Craig, I am resolved to be of some account in the world. I grow sick at heart to think that I have lived nearly twenty years and never have I gone out of my way to minister to the sick, the suffering. This poor woman has been an angel. She has taught me a lesson. I will tell father you are here, Mr. Craig,” she says, possibly anxious to escape from his observation after the recent scene.
Presently Samson Cereal appears. He has not slept all night, and at his age such things show. His eyes look red, but his face is cheerful. Aleck fails to discover the stern lines of old. Perhaps the barriers to his heart have been overthrown by the strong rush of sympathy, and he is humbled with the discovery that all these years he has been bitter toward a helpless woman, striving with might and main to retrieve the past.
“Ah! Craig, my dear fellow, you’re on time. Glad to see you. Seems to me your destiny is strangely interwoven with that of my family, and even now I am forced to call on you for counsel, perhaps assistance.”
“Indeed! I shall be happy to continue the pleasant relation that a strange fortune has brought about between us. In what way can I serve you, Mr. Cereal?”
“It concerns that notebook placed in my hands by Jack Phœnix. The fellow is good at heart—his actions prove it, and I am glad to know John gave him another chance.”
“You want me to translate it into long hand? I’m somewhat out of practice, but in all probability I can get the sense of it all.”
“I anticipated you there, Mr. Craig. Chancing to know a smart stenographer who lives down on Superior Street, I sent word to him early this morning, and he came to see me. Half an hour’s time reduced the jumble to sense. There were a few things he could not make out, but on the whole Jack Phœnix did admirably, considering that he worked under such disadvantages. I have it written out, but can tell you briefly in narrative shape what these men have discovered, and the plan they have arranged to satisfy the old Turk’s crazy desire for revenge.”
“That will answer just as well, and save time,” replies Aleck, seating himself.
The operator produces a box of prime Conchas.