"I'm delighted to hear it, and I'm only worried about one thing—that's the man Capper. He may make mischief, and he may get himself into trouble—poor old fellow!—wandering about the world friendless. I'm quite sorry for Capper."
The doctor excused himself almost immediately, and went to his study. To my surprise, Scoffold linked his arm in mine, and drew me with him towards the door of the house. "It's a fine night, and a walk will do you good," he said. "Walk back with me to my place."
"That's rather too far," I said, for I remembered that he had chambers in the West-end of London.
"I've taken another lodging," he said, without looking at me. "It's about a mile from here—or perhaps a little more—in a sort of rural cottage, where I can smell the roses when I wake in the morning. Cheap and wholesome, and all that sort of thing. Come along."
It was still quite early, and I reflected that no harm was likely to come to the girl in the short time I should be away. Besides, in a fashion, this man drew me to him, by reason of the fact that I was afraid of him, and of what he might do or say. So we went out of the house together, and traversed the dark grounds, and so came arm-in-arm into the open road. Smoking our cigars like two gentlemen at ease, we strolled along under the stars.
I found that he had taken a lodging in a quaint little cottage, with a long garden in front of it, in a queer little back street in Highgate—I should scarcely have believed that such a place existed in what was really London. He fitted his key into the door, and we went into a tiny passage and up some stairs. As we reached the top of the stairs, a clean-looking old woman came out of the room below, and called to him.
"Your servant is waiting up for you, sir," she said.
"Thank you very much indeed," replied Harvey Scoffold blandly, and the woman retired.
I found myself wondering a little what sort of servant he had brought to such a place as this. I followed him into a little clean sitting-room, with two doors opening out of it into what were evidently bedrooms.
At one side of the room a little table was set out with decanters, and glasses, and syphons: he proceeded to mix for himself and for me. Looking about him in search of something which he could not find, he struck his hand on a little bell, and I saw one of the doors open, and someone come in. I stared with a dropping jaw when I saw that the mysterious servant who now came in smiling was Capper!