"Yes," said the doctor, "it was—"
"Was what?" inquired the admiral.
"Just what you all seemed to anticipate; you are all before me, but that was it."
"A man?"
"Yes; I had a struggle with him, and got nearly killed, for I am not equal to him in strength. I was sadly knocked about, and finally all the senses were knocked out of me, and I was, I suppose, left for dead."
"And what became of the picture?"
"I don't know; but I suppose it was taken away, as, when I came to myself, it was gone; indeed, I have some faint recollection of seeing him seize the portrait as I was falling."
There was a pause of some moments, during which all the party appeared to be employed with their own thoughts, and the whole were silent.
"Do you think it was the same man who attacked you in the house that obtained the picture?" at last inquired Henry Bannerworth.
"I cannot say, but I think it most probable that it was the same; indeed, the general appearance, as near as I could tell in the dark, was the same; but what I look upon as much stronger is, the object appears to be the same in both cases."