"True--true. Yet the murderer may have been frightened away before he
had secured his prize."
"In which case, he would have returned, as the body remained
undiscovered all night."
"It may be so. I am dizzy with thinking it over and over."
"Try and not think any more, dear sir," I said, gently. "You are
feverish and ill now. I am going, this afternoon, with the friends to
the city, and I will put the police on the watch for the money. We will
get the number of the large bill, if possible, from the bank, and I
will have investigations made as to the passengers of Wednesday on the
train with James. Have you said any thing to him about your loss?"
"I have not seen him since I made the discovery. You may tell him if
you see him first; and do what you can, Richard, for I feel as weak as
a child."
CHAPTER V.
MR. BURTON, THE DETECTIVE.
When I came out of the office, I encountered James on the steps, for
the first time that day. I could not stop to make known the robbery to
him, and telling him that his uncle wished to see him a few minutes, I
hurried to my boarding-house, where I had barely time to take some
lunch in my room, while packing a small bag to be sent to the cars,
before hurrying back to Mr. Argyll's to attend the funeral escort to
the train. James and I were two of the eight pall-bearers, yet neither
of us could summon fortitude to enter the parlor where the body lay; I
believe that James had not yet looked upon the corpse. We stood
outside, on the steps of the piazza, only taking our share of the
burden after the coffin was brought out into the yard. While we stood
there, among many others, waiting, I chanced to observe his paleness
and restlessness; he tore his black gloves in putting them on; I saw
his fingers trembling. As for me, my whole being seemed to pause, as a
single, prolonged shriek rung out of the darkened mansion and floated
off on the sunshine up to the ear of God. They were taking the lover
away from his bride. The next moment the coffin appeared; I took my
place by its side, and we moved away toward the depot, passing over the
very spot where the corpse was found. James was a step in advance of
me, and as we came to the place, some strong inward recoil made him
pause, then step aside and walk around the ill-starred spot. I noticed
it, not only for the momentary confusion into which it threw the line,
but because I had never supposed him susceptible to superstitious or
imaginative influences.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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