"I suppose he stole away from the fond Sarah while she was asleep. He never could have managed it had she been awake." She became serious again, and Roy, whose mouth had widened in an appreciative grin, again listened with sober attention.
"Captain Ichabod had a confession to make to me. That confession was vastly more of a surprise to me, as you will soon understand, than this news in father's letter. The old fellow first swore me to secrecy. Then he out and told me, not without a certain exultation at his shrewdness, that he had put one over on the greatest detective in America, Arthur Van Dusen. He explained that when he and Arthur reached the false inlet where they found the cap and note, he believed that Doctor Garnet had crossed in safety, for the channel was by no means so dangerous as he represented to the detective. As a matter of fact, he hoped and expected to find the Doctor's tracks on the other side, and he did so although he concealed the knowledge of their existence from Van Dusen. Ichabod went on to tell me that he was moved to sympathy in Doctor Garnet's behalf, that he believed the man would reform, would be of use to the world, that he was worth saving from the law's punishment for offenses inspired by a drug-maddened brain. He insisted that he told no lie to Arthur—only allowed the world's greatest detective to draw a few wrong conclusions from his vague remarks and the melancholy expression on his face when he returned after crossing the inlet to look for tracks.
"Right then and there, that old fisherman and I formed a partnership. We decided that we would locate our man, save him from capture, and have him restored to the normal. This would be comparatively easy since the authorities believed him to be dead. We would demand in return that he should go to France, there to serve those sufferers on the battlefield who might have need of him.
"Ichabod preferred to remain behind, when I went to the physician's house. There I found that Doctor Garnet had in fact been received by the young doctor, who had taken him in and cared for him—proud indeed to do so, since he knew his patient's reputation and held him in veneration for his skill. The younger doctor readily entered into a conspiracy with me when he had heard my story. I had an interview with Doctor Garnet. He accepted my proposition fully. He was glad of a chance to expiate his follies. He swore to me that never again would he take a grain of the drug. At his request, I brought Ichabod to his bedside, and he thanked the old man warmly for all that he had done both for himself and for me, his victim. I offered him funds for the trip abroad, but he told me that he was well supplied with money. He told me also that he had come in a small sailboat to carry me away from the shack, but had seen on approaching that his services were no longer needed, so had returned whence he came.... From that day until now, I have had no word of the man. Yet, I felt that he had kept his promise."
"And he did—nobly!" Roy said. There was a new admiration in the glance with which he regarded his wife, who had accomplished this miracle of regeneration.
Ethel met that glance, and smiled responsively.
Once again she dimpled, as she spoke half-seriously, half-playfully.
"Roy, dear, aren't you just a bit proud of your wife and Uncle Ichabod? Between us we so worked it out that my kidnapping was not in vain. It has done three things: First and best, it hurried our marriage; second, it made Captain Jones a bridegroom instead of a hermit; third, it furnished a hero for the battlefields of France."