"Did you see the prisoners?" asked Durgan. He assumed that Alden would visit Adam as a blind. "Ah--I saw the doctor. It occurred to me to see him first." "How long will 'Dolphus live?" asked Durgan, eagerly. Again he felt that he could not let this man die without extracting whatever clue he held. "Impossible to make any forecast. The doctor has had the glass removed from his window--in short, the proper steps are being taken. Absolute quiet is ordered." "Then you _could_ not see him?" "No." After a minute Alden sat down wearily on a fallen tree. The wood was close upon them on all sides. The crescent moon, like a golden boat sailing westward, was seen through chinks in the leafy roof. "I sent him a message to say that if there was anything he wished done, he might trust me to do it. I made sure that the doctor, honest man, would impress on him the fact that I, too, am honest." "That doctor _is_ a man to be relied on. It's wonderful how one comes across an honest man once in a while." "Mr. Durgan, when I first related to you my clients' unfortunate story, you were kind enough to express your faith and reverence for such a woman as Miss Claxton, and your willingness to serve her. I felt very grateful to you. I should like to speak to you in confidence, and take counsel with you now." Durgan sat still, suspecting that he might be subjected to the subtle cross-questioning for which Alden was celebrated. Alden continued: "I naturally asked the clerk to read Miss Claxton's telegrams to see if he understood them. There are so often errors of transcription." "There were two, then?" "One was, as I had supposed, about the supplies. I did not send the other. It is about that I wish to consult you. The address of Mrs. Durgan is----?" Durgan gave a number on Fifth Avenue. "I supposed as much. The message was addressed quite openly to Charlton Beardsley at that address. It said, 'Lost article being traced. Reward likely to be claimed.' It was not signed. Why is this man kept under your wife's roof?" "As a sort of adviser in occult matters--as one might say, a spiritual director." "There is only one reward with which the Claxtons have any interest. That is offered for information concerning the murderer." "I thought it was offered for the missing boy." "It's all the same. Whoever can be proved to have been in the house at the time, having hidden himself afterwards, must have been in some way concerned with the murder. The laws of chance preclude the idea of there being two mysteries in one house at one time. I now ask you, would you have advised me to send this telegram without further information? It goes to a house over which you have at least some legal control."