Poor chap! his face was drawn and haggard as he rapidly questioned me in a jerky, constrained manner, trying vainly to conceal his agitation, and darting suspicious glances at me.
"Did you know anything of this before we left England?"
"Nothing. I knew that they had met. Nothing else."
"But had you no suspicions?"
That made me angry. I hate being badgered.
"Look here, Helston, all I know I have told you. That he should fall in love with Milly is nothing remarkable. A dozen men, to my knowledge, are, or pretend they are, in love with her, and as to the photograph, why, every girl thinks the gift of a picture of herself quite sufficient a reward for that."
"Yes, perhaps; but there must have been something in it if he has left her all his money."
"Oh, confound you, don't be such a fool!" And, thoroughly irritated, I left him to climb his way wearily to the top of the hill, whilst I went off to the Laird to get something to eat, a bath, and an hour's sleep. But for that nine stone, more or less, of frilled and furbelowed Milly, Hunter would not be lying dead on the hill above, nor Richardson either, and without Richardson I was left single-handed, just when I wanted him most. I wished most devoutly that Helston and I had never saved the life of that avaricious old Chinaman, Ping Sang, ten years ago.
The first thing I did when I went aboard the Laird was to get the First Lieutenant to send half a dozen men ashore to bury Hopkins behind his bungalow, and then I had a hot bath and turned in, and slept like a log till I was called an hour later.
I felt better after that, and was hard at work for the rest of the day preparing one of the cleanest of the merchant ships—the Hoi Feng—for the wounded, and by night we had brought them all down from the hill and safely aboard her, sending to her the wounded still on board the Strong Arm and our own ship as well.