The unhappy wretch stood still and listened, like a hare to the yelping of the pack. Presently he turned and went away, no longer with the uneven and desperate gait which had caused several passers-by to look curiously after him, but with the rapid and determined step of a man who had a thing to do and was on his way to do it.
Mr Blackford dined sumptuously in a well-known restaurant. Afterwards, he thought, he would go to his office, there in secrecy and safety to put the finishing stroke to his fortunes by destroying, carefully and completely, the second will. He had not cared to do this anywhere else; something might be seen and suspected; a bird of the air might carry the matter. Where so much was at stake, it was not worth while to leave anything to chance. When he had dined, he sat awhile and smoked his cigar with the air and sensations of a millionaire; while his visions of the future grew yet more roseate under the influence of a bottle of old Tokay. At last he took his hat and coat and departed.
The outer door of the house in which his offices were situated was closed; all the other occupants, with the exception of the old housekeeper, had long since gone home. He knocked and rang.
‘Law! Mr Blackford, sir, I couldn’t think who it could be at this time o’ night,’ said the woman, as she peered into his face by the light of her flaring and guttering candle. ‘Are you goin’ to your rooms? I’m afraid the fire’s out, some time. Shall I light it up again, sir?’
‘No, thank you, Mrs Smith,’ returned the solicitor. ‘I shall not be very long; I have a few letters to write, that’s all. Give me two or three matches to light the gas; I shall want nothing else.’
‘There’s been a gentleman here for you, about half an hour ago, sir,’ said Mrs Smith, as she lighted him up the stairs. ‘He seemed disappointed that you were gone; but I told him you wouldn’t be back to-night, and he went away.’
‘I should think he might have known that this was no time to find a man at his office. What sort of gentleman was he?’ inquired Mr Blackford carelessly.
‘Well, sir, I really couldn’t say; the wind blowed out my candle as I opened the door,’ said Mrs Smith. ‘He was a tallish gentleman, I think; but I didn’t notice no more than that.’
‘Ah—well, I daresay I shall know him when I see him. I suppose he will call to-morrow.’ And the solicitor entered his office and closed the door. He opened it again almost directly.
‘Mrs Smith, what has become of the key?’ he called sharply.