Neither spoke for a few moments. Mr. Hatchett thought it better, considering that his clerk might be charged with a criminal offence, to ask him no more questions, but leave him to frame his defence as he thought best. He believed the young man had yielded to sudden temptation, and had repented of it after destroying the tell-tale draft. ‘You are not looking at all well, Mr. Lindsay,’ he said, in a not unkindly tone. ‘Indeed, you ought not to be out at all on such a day as this. Let me advise you to go home, and try to dismiss the subject from your mind.’ Alec followed the former part of his advice; to follow the latter part of it was impossible. The subject haunted him. To be alone with it was unendurable; he must take counsel with someone; and his thoughts naturally turned to Hubert Blake. In the afternoon he went to Blake’s studio, but it was empty. So Alec told the cabman to drive to Highgate. It was nearly dark when he arrived there, and afternoon tea was laid in the drawing-room. Blake was there, and Sophy Meredith, and an elderly lady whom Alec did not know. This was a Miss Elmwood, who had been installed as Sophy’s companion. The atmosphere of peace, of comfort, of freedom from everything like care or anxiety, was inexpressibly soothing to Alec. His friends welcomed him warmly, though Sophy gently reproached him, and Blake roundly told him he was a fool, for venturing out of doors when he was so ill. ‘I have something to say to you, Blake,’ he said, as soon as he could get an opportunity of speaking aside to his friend. ‘I have got into a most horrible mess, and I want your advice.’ Blake’s face became serious in a moment. ‘You know I am entirely at your service, Alec. If I had known you were so ill, I would have been with you. I can’t ask you to come upstairs, for there is no fire there, and the one in the library is very low. But in a minute or two Miss Elmwood will go to sit with my uncle; she always does so at this hour; and I will tell Miss Meredith that we want to be left alone.’ ‘Oh, I don’t mind her hearing what I have to say,’ said Alec; ‘I would rather she did. The whole world will know soon enough, I fancy,’ he added bitterly. In a few minutes the three were left alone, and Alec told his story. ‘So you see the chances are that I shall be accused of a gigantic fraud, and find myself in the dock before long,’ he said grimly in conclusion. ‘Oh, never!’ exclaimed Sophy. ‘No one who knows you, no one who had even seen you, would think you capable of such a thing!’ Alec smiled. ‘The world is not so good-natured as you are, Miss Meredith.’ Blake did not speak. He was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his head between his bands, studying the pattern of the carpet. ‘Had your cousin Semple anything to do with the preparation of the will?’ he asked suddenly.