himself,"answered the ex-Minister.
"Maud was in London last night, and called upon Statham," Max remarked.
"She called in secret lest she might be seen and followed by Adam," herfather replied. "She went there to return to Statham a sum of money hehad sent her."
"For what?"
"He wished to know the whereabouts of Lorena Lyle, who had been herschoolfellow in Belgrade. Statham, I fear, intended, in some way, toavenge himself upon Lyle--and on his daughter more especially--onaccount of his association with his enemy. The girl is in London, andhe wished to know where she was living."
"And the money which she returned was given her in order, to induce herto divulge?"
The Doctor nodded in the affirmative, adding:
"You see that Statham, surrounded by unscrupulous enemies as he hasbeen, was bound to act always for his own protection. He has beenmisjudged--by you--by everybody. I, who know him more intimately,perhaps, than anyone save his own brother Levi, assure you that it isso."
"His brother Levi!" cried Charlie.
"Of course, Levi, who poses as his servant, is his brother. They havebeen inseparable always, from the early days when Sam Statham was amining prospector and concession-hunter--the days before fortune smiledupon the three Statham brothers, and they were able to open the doors ofthe offices in Old Broad Street. The romance of old Sam's life is theromance of the great firm."
"He treated my sister badly," declared Charlie. "For that I can neverforgive him."
"No; there you are wrong. It is true that he would not allow her to bereinstated at Cunnington's, and, on the face of it, treated herunjustly. But he had a motive. True, she refused to betray to himsomething which my daughter had told her in confidence. For thatrefusal he allowed her to be dismissed from her situation; but on thefollowing day he sent her down to me here to remain in concealment."
"Why?"
"Because of that man Adam. He had been attracted by her good looks, andhad begun to pester her with his attentions. Statham knew this from thereport of one who had watched her in secret. Therefore, by sending herhere into hiding, he was acting in her best interests."
"Then she is here?" cried Max, anxiously, his face suddenly brightening.
"Yes. See! here she comes--with Maud!" and as both men turned quicklyto the window they saw the two laughing girls, flushed by their ride,wheeling their cycles up the path from the road.
Next moment both men dashed outside, and both girls, utterly amazed andbreathless, found themselves suddenly in the arms of their lovers.
The Doctor looked on, smiling, and in silence. He saw the lips of bothgirls covered with the hot fervent kisses of good and honest men. Heheard their whispered words, and then he turned away.
Those long black days of suspicion and despair were at an end. Themystery of it all was now being rapidly solved, and both girls withinthat little parlour wept tears of joy upon the shoulders of the men whomthey had chosen as their husbands.
The happiness of four young hearts was complete. The grim shadow hadlifted, and upon them now fell at last the bright sunshine of life andof love.
The self-effacement of that little household was at an end. Freed fromthe bondage of silence, the truth was at last told. Maud, with her ownlips, explained to Charlie the confession she had made to Marion on thenight of their disappearance. She had told her how the man Adam, whomshe had known in Belgrade, had followed her several times in theneighbourhood of Earl's Court, had spoken to her, and had declared hislove for her. She never suspected that he had been her father's enemy--the man who had been the instigator of the dastardly outrage--until onthe previous evening, her father had, in confidence, told her the truth,and added that, because of his re-appearance, they had to fly. Shedared not tell him they had met, but she had made Marion her confidante.It was the story of the bomb outrage that had held Marion horrified.
Charlie, when he had listened open-mouthed to the explanation of hiswell-beloved, cried:
"The assassin! And he dared to speak to you of love!"
"He is dead, dearest," answered the girl, quietly stroking his hair fromhis brow. "Let us forgive him--and forget." For answer he took heragain in his arms, and kissed her tenderly upon the lips.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three days later.
The coroner's jury had returned a verdict of "suicide while of unsoundmind," and the body of Jean Adam had, with the undertaker's assistance,been buried in Highgate Cemetery in the actual coffin which had been solong prepared for him. It was surely a weird revenge of old Sam's.
But the whole occurrence was a grim and terrible repayment of an olddebt.
In the fading twilight of the wet and gloomy day on which the dead man'sbody was, without a single follower, committed to the grave, Rolfe andBarclay were seated with the millionaire in the familiar library in ParkLane.
Old Sam had been making explanations similar to those made by the Doctordown at Arundel. Suddenly he said, looking from one to the other:
"And now I have to apologise to you both. In arranging thedisappearance of my dear friend the Doctor, I contrived to mislead you,in order to add mystery to the occurrence. I knew, Rolfe, you lost yourtrain at Charing Cross that night; that you did not wish to be seen offby your sister Marion because you had--in my interests--quarrelled withAdam and had made murderous threats against him--perhaps unwisely.These threats, however, you believed Adam had told to Barclay, henceyour fear of the last-named later on. I arranged that a man should bepresent at Cromwell Road in clothes resembling your own, that a garmentshould be placed in the house with a bloodstain upon it, and that thedoctor's safe should be blown open as though thieves had visited theplace after the removal of the furniture. I knew from the Doctor thatyou, Barclay, would go there that evening, and my object was to puzzleand mislead you, at the same time believing that, having suspicions ofyour friend Rolfe, you would not go to the police. Again, in order totest Rolfe's devotion to myself, I suggested that the honour of thewoman he loved, if sacrificed, could save me. I made this suggestion inorder to put Rolfe off the scent."
"Then it was all your own doing?" Max cried, in surprise.
"Entirely," was the old man's response. "In the interests of myself, aswell as of both of you. Adam believed that you were aware of his secretintentions, therefore he was plotting to entice you to Turkey--a countrywhere you might have disappeared with ease. That was undoubtedly hisobject."
For a few moments he paused; then, clearing his throat, the old mansaid, in a distinct voice:
"The other night you were no doubt both surprised to find mydrawing-room transposed into the interior of a Russian house. Well, itwas done with a distinct purpose--to defeat my enemy. He, with hisfriend and accomplice Lyle, had made a false charge against me--a chargesupported by the perjured evidence of the hunchback--a charge of havingin the old days, years ago, murdered a woman--the woman who was mywife."
A shadow of pain crossed the old man's brow at what seemed a bitterremembrance. Then, after a moment's pause, he went on:
"She was worthless! Ah! yes, I admit that. But I swear I am innocentof the charge they brought against me. She was killed in Caracas in abrutal manner, but by whom I could never discover. After her death Ileft South America. Adam and his friend dropped their foul chargeagainst me, and I lost sight of them for years. Later on, I wasprospecting in the Timan Mountains, in Northern Russia, within theArctic Circle, a wild snow-covered country outside the edge ofcivilisation. Both gold and emeralds had been discovered along theIshma Valley, and there had been a rush there. Among the manyadventurous spirits attracted thither was Jean Adam, with his attendant_alter ego_ Lyle. We met again. It was in winter, and we were in astate of semi-starvation, all three of us. Not a word was saidregarding the charge they had made against me. Both were without means,and both down on their luck. For a fortnight we remained together,then, finding things hopeless resolved to stru
ggle back to civilisationat the nearest little Russian village, a miserable little place calledUst Ussa, four hundred and fifty versts south. On the way we all threenearly succumbed to the intense cold and want of food. At last,however, late one night we came across a lonely house in a clearing inthe pine forest on the outskirts of the village which was our goal.Sinking with fatigue, we begged shelter of the white-bearded old man wholived there. He took us in, gave us food, and allowed us to sleep. Iwas drowsy and slept heavily. It was late when I awoke--when I awoke tofind lying beside the table opposite me the old man stone dead, stabbedto the heart! The place had been ransacked; the old man's hoard ofmoney--for there are no banks there--had been found, and my twocompanions were missing. They had gone--no one knew whither! Whatcould I do? To remain, would mean to