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Thorndyke's endowment fund, to which had been added fifty thousand dollars, making now one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was safely invested at six per cent interest per annum. All this had been simply a labor of love, he never having received a dollar for his services. This was not boasting, but simply to show them his love for the interests of Monastery University and church.
I could think of nothing more to say, and it was in gloomy silence that we pursued our way down Inner Temple Lane and through the dark entries and tunnel-like passages that brought us out, at length, by the Treasury. "I don't see any light in Thorndyke's chambers," I said, as we crossed King's Bench Walk; and I pointed out the row of windows all dark and blank.
"My lord," exclaimed the opposing counsel, "this is really insufferable!" His lordship, however, did not interpose; and I went on to relate, in the most telling manner of which I was capable, the history of the deceased Mrs. Thorndyke's first and second marriages; the harmony and happiness of the first the wretchedness and cruelty which characterized the second.
Thorndyke's spirits sank lower. The air of the narrow under-ground corridor was cold and damp, and he quivered from head to foot. Branasko paused again in his walk towards the mysterious light. "It cannot be from the internal fires," said he, "for this light is white, and the glow of the fires is red."
It was the captain. He was panting violently, as if he had been running. "What is it?" she asked, clasping his arm. "The sun has gone out," he announced. A groan escaped her lips and she swayed into Thorndyke's arms. "The clouds are thinning over the sun, yet there is no light. The king is excited; he fears a panic!" "Has such a thing never happened?" asked Thorndyke.
My explanation did not seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the Temple gardens which I was permitted to do without breaking my parole to think it out afresh.
As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided, as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
And so it is, I was glancing through it only a night or two ago, and really I cannot conceive how a sane man could have written such nonsense." "You have a copy then?" I asked eagerly, remembering Thorndyke's parting instructions. "Yes. Would you like to see it? I know my father has told you about it, and it is worth reading as a curiosity of perverseness."
But this occupation did not prevent me from keeping an eye on Thorndyke's movements, and presently I suspended my labours to watch him as, with his pocket-knife, he scraped together some objects that he had found on the pillow. "What do you make of this?" he asked, as I stepped over to his side.
Thorndyke's stout heart suffered a sudden pang at the words, but he did not change countenance in the slightest, for the king was closely watching the effect of his announcement. "Of course," went on the ruler, gratified by the indifference of the Englishman, "of course, it could not be done. No one, outside of a few of the royal family and our trusted agents, has ever left us."
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