"It is all surmise."
"But at least it covers all the facts. When new facts come to ourknowledge which cannot be covered by it, it will be time enough toreconsider it. We can do nothing more until we have a message from ourfriend at Norbury."
But we had not a very long time to wait for that. It came just as we hadfinished our tea. "The cottage is still tenanted," it said. "Have seenthe face again at the window. Will meet the seven o'clock train, andwill take no steps until you arrive."
He was waiting on the platform when we stepped out, and we could see inthe light of the station lamps that he was very pale, and quivering withagitation.
"They are still there, Mr. Holmes," said he, laying his hand hard uponmy friend's sleeve. "I saw lights in the cottage as I came down. Weshall settle it now once and for all."
"What is your plan, then?" asked Holmes, as he walked down the darktree-lined road.
"I am going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the house. Iwish you both to be there as witnesses."
"You are quite determined to do this, in spite of your wife's warningthat it is better that you should not solve the mystery?"
"Yes, I am determined."
"Well, I think that you are in the right. Any truth is better thanindefinite doubt. We had better go up at once. Of course, legally, weare putting ourselves hopelessly in the wrong; but I think that it isworth it."
It was a very dark night, and a thin rain began to fall as we turnedfrom the high road into a narrow lane, deeply rutted, with hedges oneither side. Mr. Grant Munro pushed impatiently forward, however, and westumbled after him as best we could.
"There are the lights of my house," he murmured, pointing to a glimmeramong the trees. "And here is the cottage which I am going to enter."
We turned a corner in the lane as he spoke, and there was the buildingclose beside us. A yellow bar falling across the black foreground showedthat the door was not quite closed, and one window in the upper storywas brightly illuminated. As we looked, we saw a dark blur moving acrossthe blind.
"There is that creature!" cried Grant Munro. "You can see for yourselvesthat some one is there. Now follow me, and we shall soon know all."
We approached the door; but suddenly a woman appeared out of the shadowand stood in the golden track of the lamp-light. I could not see herface in the darkness, but her arms were thrown out in an attitude ofentreaty.
"For God's sake, don't Jack!" she cried. "I had a presentiment that youwould come this evening. Think better of it, dear! Trust me again, andyou will never have cause to regret it."
"I have trusted you too long, Effie," he cried, sternly. "Leave go ofme! I must pass you. My friends and I are going to settle this matteronce and forever!" He pushed her to one side, and we followed closelyafter him. As he threw the door open an old woman ran out in front ofhim and tried to bar his passage, but he thrust her back, and an instantafterwards we were all upon the stairs. Grant Munro rushed into thelighted room at the
top, and we entered at his heels.
It was a cosey, well-furnished apartment, with two candles burning uponthe table and two upon the mantelpiece. In the corner, stooping over adesk, there sat what appeared to be a little girl. Her face was turnedaway as we entered, but we could see that she was dressed in a redfrock, and that she had long white gloves on. As she whisked roundto us, I gave a cry of surprise and horror. The face which she turnedtowards us was of the strangest livid tint, and the features wereabsolutely devoid of any expression. An instant later the mystery wasexplained. Holmes, with a laugh, passed his hand behind the child'sear, a mask peeled off from her countenance, and there was a little coalblack negress, with all her white teeth flashing in amusement at ouramazed faces. I burst out laughing, out of sympathy with her merriment;but Grant Munro stood staring, with his hand clutching his throat.
"My God!" he cried. "What can be the meaning of this?"
"I will tell you the meaning of it," cried the lady, sweeping intothe room with a proud, set face. "You have forced me, against my ownjudgment, to tell you, and now we must both make the best of it. Myhusband died at Atlanta. My child survived."
"Your child?"
She drew a large silver locket from her bosom. "You have never seen thisopen."
"I understood that it did not open."
She touched a spring, and the front hinged back. There was a portraitwithin of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent-looking, but bearingunmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent.
"That is John Hebron, of Atlanta," said the lady, "and a nobler mannever walked the earth. I cut myself off from my race in order to wedhim, but never once while he lived did I for an instant regret it. Itwas our misfortune that our only child took after his people rather thanmine. It is often so in such matches, and little Lucy is darker far thanever her father was. But dark or fair, she is my own dear little girlie,and her mother's pet." The little creature ran across at the words andnestled up against the lady's dress. "When I left her in America," shecontinued, "it was only because her health was weak, and the changemight have done her harm. She was given to the care of a faithful Scotchwoman who had once been our servant. Never for an instant did I dreamof disowning her as my child. But when chance threw you in my way, Jack,and I learned to love you, I feared to tell you about my child. Godforgive me, I feared that I should lose you, and I had not the courageto tell you. I had to choose between you, and in my weakness I turnedaway from my own little girl. For three years I have kept her existencea secret from you, but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all waswell with her. At last, however, there came an overwhelming desire tosee the child once more. I struggled against it, but in vain. Though Iknew the danger, I determined to have the child over, if it were butfor a few weeks. I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I gave herinstructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a neighbor,without my appearing to be in any way connected with her. I pushed myprecautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house duringthe daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands so that eventhose who might see her at the window should not gossip about therebeing a black child in the neighborhood. If I had been less cautiousI might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with fear that youshould learn the truth.
"It was you who told me first that the cottage was occupied. I shouldhave waited for the morning, but I could not sleep for excitement, andso at last I slipped out, knowing how difficult it is to awake you. Butyou saw me go, and that was the beginning of my troubles. Next day youhad my secret at your mercy, but you nobly refrained from pursuing youradvantage. Three days later, however, the nurse and child only justescaped from the back door as you rushed in at the front one. And nowto-night you at last know all, and I ask you what is to become of us, mychild and me?" She clasped her hands and waited for an answer.
It was a long ten minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence, andwhen his answer came it was one of which I love to think. He liftedthe little child, kissed her, and then, still carrying her, he held hisother hand out to his wife and turned towards the door.
"We can talk it over more comfortably at home," said he. "I am not avery good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you havegiven me credit for being."
Holmes and I followed them down the lane, and my friend plucked at mysleeve as we came out.