already left the bungalow. I went down Paradise Street to
make my way out along the river bank at a little after six o'clock. I
passed Absalom in the street and spoke a word to the boy, but time was
pressing and I did not dare to be late. It was of the utmost importance
that there should be no hitch in any part of the plan, for the _Lady
Helen_ could not delay over an hour. I got to the appointed place by the
river just after twilight had come on--"

"Were you seen by anyone?"

Heath paused and thought for a moment.

"I would like to deal entirely candidly with you, Mr. Coryndon, but,
with your permission, I must avoid any mention of names. As it happened,
I _was_ seen, but I believe that the person who saw me has no connection
with either my own place in this story or the story itself so far as it
affects Absalom. I saw Rydal go. He went in silence, an utterly
broken-hearted and ruined man, and only ten months divided that day from
the day that he stood on the deck of the _Worcestershire_ filled with
every hope the heart of a man knows. Behind him, his wife lying near
death in the little house his love had provided for her, and nothing lay
before him but utter desolation. I watched the boat take him away into
the darkness, and I saw the lights of the _Lady Helen_ quite clearly,
and then I saw her move slowly off, and I knew that Rydal was safe."

He paused and stared into the darkness of the room, seeing the whole
picture again, and feeling the awful misery of the broken man who had
gone by the way of transgressors. The man who had once been
light-hearted and happy, who had sung in his choir, and who had read the
lessons for the Rev. Francis Heath and helped him with his boys.

Coryndon's face showed his tense, close interest as the clergyman spoke
again.

"I was standing there for some time, how long I do not know, when I saw
that I was not alone, and that I was being watched by a Chinaman. I knew
the boy by sight, and must have seen him before somewhere else. He was a
large, repulsive creature, and appeared to have come from one of the
houses near the river, where there are Coringyhis and low-caste natives
of India. At the time I remarked nothing, but when the boy saw that he
had attracted my attention, he started into a run, and left me without
speaking. The incident was so trifling that it hardly made me uneasy. No
one had seen me actually with Rydal--"

"You are quite clear on that point? Not even the othe