“Gone abroad,” replied Langton. “As soon as I told him what Mr Kirk had said over the telephone, he packed some of his traps, and, making a lame excuse that he had to visit some friends in Germany, he drove to Charing Cross.”
I stood gazing at the pair before me, my thoughts too full for mere words.
Professor Greer’s end was, indeed, an unexpected and extraordinary one.
That night, however, proved full of surprises, for when I returned home I found Mabel, sweet, eager and happy, anxiously awaiting me.
I noticed she seemed pale, weary and travel-worn, but as she threw herself into my ready arms with a cry of joy at our reunion, she sobbed to me to forgive her for doubting me.
“I don’t understand you, darling,” I said. “I never doubted you for one moment.”
“Ah!” she sobbed, “you do not know all I’ve suffered in these long weeks we have been parted.”
“No,” I said. “Tell me, dearest, tell me all.”
Then, in broken sentences, smiling now and then through her tears, she explained how, on receipt of the false telegram, she had at once gone to Italy, where she was met by Kirk, who told her that I had unfortunately been accused of the crime of forgery, of which I was innocent, and that I was in hiding. He promised, if for the time she concealed her name, he would take her to me.