“Take them,” he said. “Take them—and burn them in the stove. Mind—destroy every one.”
“Certainly I will,” answered the other. “Give them to me, and you shall see me burn them. I’ll do so there—before your eyes.”
The man held the envelope in his dying grip. He still hesitated. His eyes were fixed upon the papers wistfully, as though filled with poignant regret at a mission unaccomplished.
“Ah!” he gasped with difficulty. “To think that this is the end—the end of a lifetime’s study and struggle! Death defeats me, vanquishes me—as it has vanquished every other man who has striven to learn the secret.”
Diamond stood listening in wonder and curiosity. He noticed the dying man’s reluctance to destroy the papers.
Perhaps he would succumb, and leave them undestroyed! What secret could they contain?
There was a long silence. The grey light over the thousands of chimney-pots was fast fading into gloom. The room was darkening.
The patient lay motionless as one dead, yet his dull eyes were still open. In his hand he still held his treasured envelope.
Again Diamond spoke, but the man with a secret made no reply. He only raised his wan hand, and shook his head sadly, indicating inability to speak.
The queer little Doctor bent once more closer to the stranger and saw that the end was near. He was hoping against hope that the man would expire before he had strength to order the destruction of those documents, whatever they were. The mysterious statements of the dying man had indicated that the papers in question contained some remarkable secret, and naturally his curiosity had been aroused.