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"I've willingly laid my partner's story open to the only tests we can impose. Now I'm going to do the same with Clarence Gladwyne's." Nothing more was said, and turning away from the cache, they went back to the canoe. Two days passed uneventfully, though Nasmyth was conscious of a growing uneasiness during them; and then one evening they landed to search another beach.
"You could hardly expect to gain it by devoting yourself to Miss Crestwick." The man smiled rather grimly. "If it's any consolation to you, I'm inclined to think that Miss Crestwick has let me drop. The truth's not very flattering, but I can't hide it." Mrs. Gladwyne's relief was obvious, but she had more to say and she ventured upon it with some courage.
"I suppose that's correct," Nasmyth agreed. "But, after all, unless you can get hold of a list of the provisions cached and it has most likely been destroyed there's only one way of substantiating your views." "Exactly. Gladwyne's confession will place the matter beyond all doubt." "Do you think you will ever get it?" Lisle's expression hardened. "Well," he said, "I'm going to try."
Millicent was a little vexed with herself for asking him and did not quite understand why she had done so, unless it was because she had not altogether recovered her usual collectedness after Mrs. Gladwyne's visit. Why she should be interested in this man's opinion was not clear, but she thought he was one who would act in accordance with it.
The girl recognized that Jim had guessed correctly. When she had gone to Lisle for help, he had allowed her to understand that he could compel Gladwyne's compliance with his request, which was significant. Still, convinced as she was, she would not openly acquiesce in her brother's theory.
He was not a clever man and he had his faults, but he shaped his life in accordance with a few simple but inflexible rules. It was difficult for him to understand how one could yield to a fit of craven fear; but there was a fact which made Gladwyne's transgression still blacker. "This thing hits hard," he said at length. "The man should have gone back, if he had known it meant certain death."
Anyway, I like her whatever the admission's worth though I must say that I found her rather startling at first. She's honest, I think, and that counts for a good deal." "I suppose you're not aware that she's desirably rich?" "I wasn't. It's not a fact of any moment to me. Besides, I've a suspicion that it's Gladwyne's scalp she's after." Nasmyth nodded. "You're pretty shrewd.
"And leave the work that brought me here I believe that brought us both here undone?" "You'll forgive me if I don't express myself very fortunately. What I feel is this Gladwyne's story is a tragic one, but it's twelve months old. In a way, it's forgotten; the wounds it made have healed." "Is such a man as the one you have described forgotten in a year?" Lisle asked with a hardening expression.
"Our mutual friend called me Lisle at the Empress Hotel. I don't think he mentioned my first name, Vernon; and as that was the name of Gladwyne's guide I kept it in the background. I was anxious to take you with me; I wanted an Englishman of some standing in the old country whose word would be believed. What was more, I wanted an honest man who would form an unbiased opinion.
"Now," he said, "I don't want to be offensive; but there are two people connected with this affair who must be spared any unnecessary suffering. That's a fact you had better recognize." "I hardly think you do me justice," returned Batley, looking amused. "It's perfectly plain that there's a mystery behind these recent events; one that has some relation to George Gladwyne's death.
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