this is the very positive belief of Mr. Lamar that he saw him on the day before yesterday, twice.”
“What had better be done under these circumstances?” queried Mr. Brainard.
“I wish that I could answer that question both to your satisfaction and my own,” was the perplexed answer.
“What was done in New York?”
“I had several long conferences with Mr. Fenwick, whom I found a man of extensive views. He is very sanguine, and says that he has already invested some forty thousand dollars.”
“Ah! So largely?”
“Yes; and will not hesitate to double the sum, if required.”
“His confidence is strong.”
“It is—very strong. He thinks that the fewer parties engage in the matter, the better it will be for all, if they can furnish the aggregate capital required.”
“Why?”
“The fewer persons interested, the more concert of action there will be, and the larger individual dividend on the business.”
“If there should come a dividend,” said Mr. Brainard.
“That is certain,” replied Mr. Markland, in a very confident manner. “I am quite inclined to the opinion of Mr. Fenwick, that one of the most magnificent fortunes will be built up that the present generation has seen.”
“What is his opinion of Mr. Lyon?”
“He expresses the most unbounded confidence. Has known him, and all about him, for over ten years; and says that a man of better capacity, or stricter honour, is not to be found. The parties in London, who have intrusted large interests in his hands, are not the men to confide such interests to any but the tried and proved.”
“How much will we be expected to invest at the beginning?”
“Not less than twenty thousand dollars apiece.”
“So much?”
“Yes. Only two parties in this city are to be in the Company, and we have the first offer.”
“You intend to accept?”
“Of course. In fact, I have accepted. At the same time, I assured Mr. Fenwick that he might depend on you.”
“But for this strange story about Mr. Lyon’s return to the city—a death’s-head at our banquet—there would not be, in my mind, the slightest hesitation.”
“It is only a shadow,” said Mr. Markland.
“Shadows do not create themselves,” replied Mr. Brainard.
“No; but mental shadows do not always indicate the proximity of material substance. If Mr. Lyon wrote to you that he was about starting for Mexico, depend upon it, he is now speeding away in that direction. He is not so sorry a trifler as Mr Lamar’s hasty conclusion would indicate.”
“A few days for reflection and closer scrutiny will not in the smallest degree affect the general issue, and may develope facts that will show the way clear before us,” said Mr. Brainard. “Let us wait until we hear again from Mr. Lyon, before we become involved in large responsibilities.”
“I do not see how I can well hold back,” replied Mr. Markland. “I have, at least, honourably bound myself to Mr. Fenwick.”
“A few days can make no difference, so far as that is concerned,” said Mr. Brainard, “and may develope facts of the most serious importance. Suppose it should really prove true that Mr. Lyon returned, in a secret manner, from the South, would you feel yourself under obligation to go forward without the clearest explanation of the fact?”
“No,” was the unhesitating answer.
“Very well. Wait for a few days. Time will make all this clearer.”
“It will, no doubt, be wisest,” said Mr. Markland, in a voice that showed a slight depression of feeling.
“According to Mr. Lamar, if the man he saw was Lyon, he evidently wished to have a private interview with yourself.”
“With me?”
“Certainly. Both Mr. Lamar and the hotel-keeper refer to his going to, or being in, the neighbourhood of the cars that run in the direction of ‘Woodbine Lodge.’ It will be well for you to question the various members of your household. Something may be developed in this way.”
“If he had visited Woodbine Lodge, of course I would have known about it,” said Mr. Markland, with a slightly touched manner, as if there were something more implied by Mr. Brainard than was clearly apparent.
“No harm can grow out of a few inquiries,” was answered. “They may lead to the truth we so much desire to elucidate, and identify the person seen by Mr. Lamar as a very different individual from Mr. Lyon.”
Under the existing position of things, no further steps in the very important business they had in progress could be taken that day. After an hour’s further conference, the two men parted, under arrangement to meet again in the morning.
CHAPTER XII.
IT was scarcely mid-day when Mr. Markland’s carriage drew near to Woodbine Lodge. As he was about entering the gateway to his grounds, he saw Mr. Allison, a short distance beyond, coming down the road. So he waited until the old gentleman came up.
