Page:Richard Marsh--The goddess a demon.djvu/95

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Recognition of the Photograph
83

master's sake, that he had said as much as he had done to the inspector, and he was also sorry, for his own sake, that he had not said more; for he was uncomfortably conscious that, by his comparative reticence, he had incurred the officer's resentment

"Do you think, sir," he said, as we were parting—and I thought, as he was speaking, how old he seemed and tremulous—"that that Mr.Symonds will hunt me up, and worry me, as he as good as said he would? Because I know that I shan't be able to stand it, if he does; my nerves are not what they were, and I never dreamed that I should have trouble with the police at my time of life."

I endeavoured to reassure him.

"Mr. Morley, be at ease; fear nothing. You are the sole proprietor of your own tongue, use it to preserve silence; no one can force you to speak unless you choose."

I was not by any means so sure of this, in my own mind; but this was a detail. My object was to comfort Mr. Morley.

It was at the door of the house in Arlington Street that we parted; after all, I went with him the whole way—it was practically mine. I waited while he inquired if his master had returned. The face of the old lady who opened the door, and who I immediately concluded was Mrs.