"The law demands it," was Worthing's characteristic reply. And he explained what evidence we had and what clues we might follow. There was the probable mark on the man's hand. Then too he must have been in the neighbourhood of the _Snow Man_ when my father rushed back into the fire. Probably he had been the cause of the fire itself. Again, he had very likely been at Rancey Bridge when my father had sung the verse bidding me to the tryst on the first of May. Then there was the affair of the King's Man. My father himself had suggested that that was a trick of his enemy's to put false blame upon him, and so bring down the vengeance of the smugglers on his head. So Worthing went on; and if the strange fear at my heart hadn't cried halt to the enquiry I should have delighted in tracing the mystery and connecting it link by link. But I couldn't throw off the feeling of awe which paralyzed my wits and dulled my enthusiasm for revenge. In spite of the crying wound in my heart I couldn't whip myself up into the mood for retaliation. Meanwhile Dirk had been hanging idly round the _Dolphin_, his brig lying out to sea, for he had taken it into his head to father me now that I was left a homeless waif to face the world alone. He kept urging me to join him on his vessel and learn the sailor's craft, and to tell the truth I was only too anxious to go, for the call of the sea set my blood dancing. But I couldn't leave Worthing, not at any rate until I had satisfied his curiosity. And even when I thought he must know my story by heart, with all my wanderings from as far back as I could remember, and all the secrets I had discovered around the coast and even at Sunset Towers, when I thought he knew all this yet I couldn't bring myself to part from him unless he wished me to. For I knew I owed him a debt I could never hope to repay. So I was torn between two desires: on the one hand Dirk and the romance of the sea called me to be away on the wonderful summer waters, and on the other hand Worthing and a sense of gratitude held me back on land. I wondered how it would all end, for I was still too stupid from the effects of the shock I had sustained to be master of my will. But the knot untied itself. For one morning Worthing came to me and said he was off to London. He had learnt all he could at this end of the trail; now he must go and establish himself in his uncle's graces, and didn't doubt but that he would have leisure and opportunity to work at the mystery and eventually unravel it. His uncle, he knew, would lend him every help, for the case promised to be one of intense interest in the annals of crime. This method of regarding the tragedy made me wince, but I answered cheerily that I was ready to accompany him. "But you're going to sea," he said. "To sea?" I repeated.