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"I am ready to take my oath I saw him cross that narrow street back yonder." "Was it one of our own men do you think?" said Codd, referring to the two Burmen they had brought with them. "Not a bit of it," Hayle replied. "I tell you, Kitwater, I am as sure as I am of anything that the man I saw was a Chinaman." "Gammon," said Kitwater. "There isn't a Chinaman within fifty miles of the ruins.
Here was I, a hard-headed man of the world, being drawn into an extraordinary piece of business, which I had most certainly decided to have nothing to do with, simply because a pretty girl had smiled upon me, and had asked me to do it. For I don't mind confessing that I had made up my mind to help Kitwater and Codd in their search for the villain Hayle.
The boys of the school, it must be said, had heard the noble old gentleman's touching history, and had all got to know and love him. They came every day to hear news of him; sent him in books and papers to amuse him; and some benevolent young souls God's blessing on all honest boys, say I painted theatrical characters and sent them in to Codd Colonel's grandson.
I noticed that little Codd placed his hand upon the other's arm. It travelled down until their hands met. I saw that the blind man was making an effort to recover his composure, and I felt sure that he regretted ever having lost it. A moment later Codd came across the room to my table, and, taking up a piece of paper, wrote upon it the following words "Kitwater is sorry, I am sure.
"Then am I right in interpreting your trouble as being connected with your uncle?" I asked. "Yes, that is it," she answered. "You have guessed correctly. Do you know that he and Mr. Codd have disappeared?" "Disappeared?" I repeated. "Have you any idea where they have disappeared to?" "No, but I can hazard a very shrewd guess," she replied. "I believe they have crossed to Paris in search of Mr.
Then little Codd sank down, and, placing his head upon his hands on the table, sobbed like a little child. "What is to be done?" I asked, in a horrified whisper. "Go down to the rocks and search for them," said the Sicilian officer, "but I doubt if we shall be able to find them; the sea is very deep off this point." We went! Kitwater's body we discovered, terribly mutilated upon the rocks.
"Yes, I'll be satisfied," he answered, but with what struck me as almost reluctance. "Yes, when I have my treasure back again I'll be satisfied, and so will Codd. In the meantime I'll wait here in the dark, the dark in which the days and nights are the same. Yes, I'll wait and wait and wait." At that moment Miss Kitwater made her reappearance in the garden, and I rose to bid my clients farewell.
You understand, of course, that I represent Messrs. Kitwater and Codd." "I am well aware of it," he replied, "and in common fairness to yourself, I can only say that I am sorry to hear it." "May I ask why you are sorry?" "Because you have the honour to represent the biggest pair of scoundrels unhung," he answered.
During the remainder of the day I found myself looking forward with a feeling that was almost akin to eagerness, to the interview I was to have with Kitwater and Codd that afternoon.
At this moment we entered the room to find Hayle standing with his back to the window that opened into the balcony, which in its turn overlooked the somewhat steep slope that led to the cliff and the sea. Codd was on the left of the centre table, a revolver in his hand, and a look upon his face that I had never seen before.
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