For the younger sister's letters
had filled the elder's mind with rosy dreams of enhanced family
prosperity.
"Only this telegram. That is all!" murmured the preceptress,
as she handed the Major a dispatch dated at St. Heliers, stating,
"Arrived, well, news of Mr. Johnstone's assassination just received.
Will write!"
"This is all I know of this strange homecoming, as yet!" summed up
the child of Minerva.
Hawke softly delved into Mademoiselle Euphrosyne's inner consciousness
until he knew all the corners of the simple woman's heart.
"I am quite sure that she speaks the simple truth!" he decided,
after he had informed the Swiss woman of his address, "Hotel
Binda, Paris." "I must go on there by the night train," he at once
resolved. "Here is a juncture where all our various interests are
deeply involved. You and Justine may lose the well-earned reward
of years. I must be near Justine, now, to protect you both. I fear
this old mummy Fraser! If he controls the fortune, then he and his
hopeful son will probably steal half of it. Thats a fair allowance
for an ordinary executor! It is all for one, and, one for all, now!
Write under seal to Justine that I am near--only do not mention
names!" With an affected tenderness, Hawke kissed the pallid lips
of the daughter of Minerva, and slipped away to Lausanne, whence
he took the midnight train for Paris.
"I might look around and dispose of my jewels in Paris," he thought
as he neared that "gay and festive city.
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