| I thought I had best meet him on his own ground,... 781 |
[Jan. 29th, 2010|07:22 am] |
I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said, "Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their confidenceI am myself a professional man
Here I handed him my card"In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity, I act on the part of Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, he understood, lately for sale
These words put a different complexion on affairsHe said, "I would like to oblige you if I could, MrHarker, and especially would I like to oblige his lordshipWe once carried out a small matter of renting some chambers for him when he was the honourable Arthur HolmwoodIf you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult the House on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his lordship by tonight's postIt will be a pleasure if we can so far deviate from our rules as to give the required information to his lordship
I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked him, gave the address at DrSeward's and came awayIt was now dark, and I was tired and hungryI got a cup of tea at the Aerated Bread Company and came down to Purfleet by the next train
I found all the others at homeMina was looking tired and pale, but she made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerfulIt wrung my heart to think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused her inquietudeThank God, this will be the last night of her looking on at our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our confidenceIt took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of keeping her out of our grim taskShe seems somehow more reconciled, or else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for when any accidental allusion is made she actually shuddersI am glad we made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our growing knowledge would be torture to her
I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone, so after dinner, followed by a little music to save appearances even amongst ourselves, I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bedThe dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me as though she would detain me, but there was much to be talked of and I came awayThank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no difference between us
When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire in the studyIn the train I had written my diary so far, and simply read it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of my own information
When I had finished Van Helsing said, "This has been a great day's work, friend JonathanDoubtless we are on the track of the missing boxesIf we find them all in that house, then our work is near the endBut if there be some missing, we must search until we find themThen shall we make our final coup, and hunt the wretch to his real death
We all sat silent awhile and all at once MrMorris spoke, "Say! How are we going to get into that house?"
"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly
"But, Art, this is differentWe broke house at Carfax, but we had night and a walled park to protect usIt will be a mighty different thing to commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or nightI confess I don't see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck can find us a key of some sort
Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked about the roomBy-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to another of us, "Quincey's head is levelThis burglary business is getting |
|
|
