nd marry me. Then we can go to the south of France
for the rest of the winter, until you recover. When we return and set up
house in London--say in a year--the whole affair will be forgotten."

"But how can you bear to marry me, when you know that I come of such a
bad stock?" wept Lucy, a trifle more comforted.

"My dear, must I remind you again that you are no relation to Professor
Braddock; you have not a drop of his wicked blood in your veins. And
even if you had, I should still marry you. It is you I love, and you I
marry, so there is no more to be said. Come, darling, say that you will
become my wife next week."

"But the Professor?"

Archie smiled grimly. He found it difficult to forgive Braddock for the
disgrace he had brought on the girl.

"I don't think we'll ever be troubled again with the Professor," he
said, after a pause. "He has bolted into the unknown with that infernal
Kanaka."

"But why did he fly, Archie?"

"Because he knew that the game was up. Mrs. Jasher wrote out this
confession, and told Cockatoo, when he entered the room to get the
emerald, that she had written it. To save his master the Kanaka stabbed
the wretched woman, and, had Random and I not arrived, he would have
secured the confession. I really believe he came back again out of the
mist in the small hours of the morning to steal it. But when he found
that all was vain, he returned here and told the Professor that the
story of the murder had been written out. Therefore there was
nothing left to Braddock but to fly. Although," added Hope, with an
afterthought, "I can't imagine why those two fugitives should drag that
confounded mummy with them."

"But why should the Professor fly?" asked Lucy again. "According to what
Mrs. Jasher writes, he did not strangle poor Sidney."

"No. And I will do him the justice to say that he had no idea of having
his assistant murdered. It was Cockatoo's savage blood which came out in
the deed, and maybe it can be explained by the Kanaka's devotion to the
Professor. It was the same way in the murder of Mrs. Jasher. By killing
Bolton, the Kanaka hoped to save the emeralds for Braddock: in stabbing
Mrs. Jasher, he hoped to save the Professor's life."

"Oh, Archie, will they hang my father?"

Hope winced.

"Call him your step-father," he said quickly. "No, dear, I do not think
he will be hanged; but as an accessory after the fact he will certainly
be condemned to a long term of imprisonment. Cockato