it was like the effect produced by calling in some big doctor, some
great arbiter of life and death, for consultation. The sense of gravity
increased a hundredfold. Even inanimate objects took upon themselves a
subtle alteration, for the setting of the adventure--this deserted bit
of sea with its hundreds of uninhabited islands--somehow turned sombre.
An element that was mysterious, and in a sense disheartening, crept
unbidden into the severity of grey rock and dark pine forest and took
the sparkle from the sunshine and the sea.

I, at least, was keenly aware of the change, for my whole being shifted,
as it were, a degree higher, becoming keyed up and alert. The figures
from the background of the stage moved forward a little into the
light--nearer to the inevitable action. In a word this man's arrival
intensified the whole affair.

And, looking back down the years to the time when all this happened, it
is clear to me that he had a pretty sharp idea of the meaning of it from
the very beginning. How much he knew beforehand by his strange divining
powers, it is impossible to say, but from the moment he came upon the
scene and caught within himself the note of what was going on amongst
us, he undoubtedly held the true solution of the puzzle and had no need
to ask questions. And this certitude it was that set him in such an
atmosphere of power and made us all look to him instinctively; for he
took no tentative steps, made no false moves, and while the rest of us
floundered he moved straight to the climax. He was indeed a true diviner
of souls.

I can now read into his behaviour a good deal that puzzled me at the
time, for though I had dimly guessed the solution, I had no idea how he
would deal with it. And the conversations I can reproduce almost
verbatim, for, according to my invariable habit, I kept full notes of
all he said.

To Mrs. Maloney, foolish and dazed; to Joan, alarmed, yet plucky; and to
the clergyman, moved by his daughter's distress below his usual shallow
emotions, he gave the best possible treatment in the best possible way,
yet all so easily and simply as to make it appear naturally spontaneous.
For he dominated the Bo'sun's Mate, taking the measure of her ignorance
with infinite patience; he keyed up Joan, stirring her courage and
interest to the highest point for her own safety; and the Reverend
Timothy he soothed and comforted, while obtaining his implicit
obedience, by taking him into his confidence