ht him to the district. The
outside world did not obtrude itself upon him, till the doctor declared
that only once more would he visit him. Then it came with a rush.

A dozen questions forced themselves upon his mind.

Since his arrival at Waroona Downs, no word had reached him from
Brennan, no mention had been made of the robberies. When, once or twice,
he had attempted to speak of them, Mrs. Burke told him the doctor's
orders were that he was not to be allowed to dwell upon anything likely
to disturb him, and she insisted on carrying out those orders. He had
always yielded, lest she put into execution the threat she made, to
leave him to the tender mercies of old Patsy for a whole day. But now
the injunction was removed, for the doctor himself had asked whether he
should tell Brennan to come out.

Durham awaited his arrival with impatience. Now that he allowed his mind
to revert to more prosaic matters than the object of his adoration, he
concluded that, as he had not been troubled with official detail,
someone else had been sent up to continue the investigation into the
mystery.

He ran over the names of the men most likely to be entrusted with the
work, speculating which one it was, and what course he had followed. He
hunted for the letter he had found the day he discovered the track
leading to the lake among the hills, and when he could not find it, he
inferred that after he had been struck down at Taloona, the two
marauders had searched him and had recovered what would have been
invaluable evidence against Eustace.

The excuse Mrs. Burke had put forward for refusing to discuss the matter
with him suggested she knew he had been superseded; the belief grew in
his mind that his successor had succeeded in either tracing the stolen
gold or securing the arrest of Eustace, and perhaps his companion also.
Mrs. Burke, knowing this, had declined to talk lest she revealed the
secret and gave him, as she would consider, cause for mental anxiety and
distress.

It was therefore a great surprise for him to learn from Brennan, as soon
as he came out, that no one had been sent up to take charge of the case;
that no arrest had been made, nor clue discovered; but that everything
had been allowed to remain as it was until such time as he was
sufficiently recovered to resume duty.

"They should not have done that," he exclaimed. "Look at the time
wasted."

"I understand the Bank wished it, sir," Brennan answered. "Mr. Wallac