Besides, two days before she left she
received from us a hundred thousand dollars in cash."
I saw him move uneasily on his bed; after all, this advantage of mine
was no small one. No wonder he grew restless under this revelation of
secrets which were not secrets!
"Ah!" he said softly; and again, "Ah! Yes, that seems peculiar. Yet,
perhaps, if you had waited for a letter----"
"Suppose we had waited, and there had been no letter--suppose, in
consequence of waiting, we should be too late?"
"Too late? Too late for what, Mistair Lester? What is it you fear for
her?"
"I don't know," I answered; "but something--something. At least, we
could not assume the responsibility of delay."
"No," he agreed; "perhaps not. You are doubtless quite right to
investigate. I wish you success--I wish that I myself might aid you,
there is so much of interest in the case to me; but I fear that to be
impossible. I must rest--I who have so many affairs calling me, so
little desire to rest! Is not the fate ironical?"
And he breathed a sigh, which was doubtless genuine enough.
"Will you go to Paris?" I asked.
"Oh, no; not at once. At Havre I shall meet my agent and transact my
affairs with him. Then I shall seek some place of quiet along the
coast."
"Yes," I said to myself, with leaping heart, "Etretat!" But I dared
not speak the word.
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