The Pointing Man

case of the boy Absalom, and he felt that the possibility of clearing it up was well w

feelings gave him no rest, and he remained inactive and listless for several days after his ride with Mrs. Wilder. If she had told him that she implored him personally to drop the case he could not have felt more certain t

ircumstance led on to a very definite conclusion. The wooden figure outside the curio dealer's shop pointed up his master's steps, an

s of the veranda dripped mournfully with a sound like the patter of a thousand tiny feet; the patter sounded like the falling of tears, and he wondered if Heath, too, listened to

a criminal of the class of the Rev. Francis Heath is a criminal who is driven slowly, inch by inch, into action, and each inch given only at the cost of blood and tears. It was little short of ghastl

secure and honoured, and who falls into the bottomless abyss of crime and detection. Hartley had never considered it before. He was on the side of law and order, and he was incapable of even d

still the drip from the eaves fell intermittently with its melancholy noise, so softly now, as hardly to be heard, and Hartley

nd the sky was deadly still, with a brooding, waiting stillness. Hartley stopped as he went towards the further gates of the park, and watched the glassy reflections with troubled eyes. No breeze touched the woods into movement, and the long, yellow bars of evenin

ater with its mirrored reproduction of tree and sky. It held him strangely, and he felt a curious tension of his nerves, as though something w

ing the straight, low band of gold cloud which broke under the widening circles. As he stooped, a man had come into sight, walking with a slow, heavy step, his eyes on the ground and his head bent. He came o

d and looked up, staring at him as though he were an a

id not see anyone just now." There was more irritati

that confounded lake. It was so

. "There's too much talk of ne

ty that is very refreshing and reviving at times, but, otherwise, Joicey was not look

g to the Clu

join you and have a walk, if I

or conversation than was usual with him. They left the lake behind them, now a pallid glea

ed Hartley with

t I have

n rain still lay here and there in the depressions, but Joicey took no he

tuck there, "have you heard anything more in connection with the

ssed, and Mrs. Wilder leaned forward to smile at the Head of the Police; a small buggy foll

track, but I don't like it,

y n

hateful job-I thought I'd tell you-" He spoke in broken se

you d

ll, and his voice was low

ardly see Joicey's face in the gathering gloom. "I suppose you gues

t with you. It's got to be proved," he spoke more heatedly. "What have you got? Only the word of a stinking na

over you, Joice

tter after they are over. Better, much better. Leave me here to go back by myself, Hartley. You need have n

k after he had gone a mile along the road, but Joicey was no longer there. It was too late to think of going to the Club, for the road that Joicey and Hartley had followed led away from the residential qu

to depress his spirits, and he was sorry to think that his friend was so obviously in bad health. The world seemed an uncomfortable place, full of gloomy surprises, and Hartley wished that he had a wife to go back to. Not a superb being like Mrs. Wilder, who was encircled by the halo of Hi

ver to be punctual for a solitary meal, and Hartley walked quickly because he wanted to g

and European-clad, dark-skinned creatures of mixed races, looked cheerful and encouraged to better thoughts. Hartley crossed the busy thoroughfare below the Pagoda steps and went on quickly, for he recognized the outline of Mhtoon Pah on his way to burn amb

ould see Francis Heath and have the whole thing put on paper once and for all. He even whistled as he came along the short drive and under the portico, where a night-scented flower smelt strong and sweet. His boy met him with the informati

n who were old school friends and were doing a leisurely tour to Japan and America, men of his own profession who had leave to dispose of; all or any of these might arrive with a s

ote of vitality lay would have been hard to explain. No one can tell exactly what it is that marks one man as a courageous man, and anoth

e Lion and t

Jamshyd gloried

s were dull, and his finely-cut features small and perfect, rather than bold and strong; his long

cheery words of surprise, his visitor said very little,

on earth I wanted to see you most. You've

languid, half-amu

ng through, my j

ll stay f

here in the 'nick'; if the n

peared twice his normal size beside his guest, as a St. Bernard

ange of expression, and, sliding back

e Lion and t

Jamshyd gloried

tten-solitude and ruin that no one ever crossed to explore or to see-with the eyes of a man who can rebuild a mighty past. Solitude in the halls and marble stairways, ruin of time in the fretted

e came back, flushed and pleased, and full o

u haven't

"I've been amusing myself in my own way,