"We have heard, for instance, of a
certain Mr. Morrison, once your partner."
Heyst could not repress a slight movement.
"Aha!" said Mr. Jones, with a sort of ghostly glee on his face.
The muffled thunder resembled the echo of a distant cannonade below the
horizon, and the two men seemed to be listening to it in sullen silence.
"This diabolical calumny will end in actually and literally taking my
life from me," thought Heyst.
Then, suddenly, he laughed. Portentously spectral, Mr. Jones frowned at
the sound.
"Laugh as much as you please," he said. "I, who have been hounded out
from society by a lot of highly moral souls, can't see anything funny in
that story. But here we are, and you will now have to pay for your fun,
Mr. Heyst."
"You have heard a lot of ugly lies," observed Heyst. "Take my word for
it!"
"You would say so, of course--very natural. As a matter of fact I
haven't heard very much. Strictly speaking, it was Martin. He collects
information, and so on. You don't suppose I would talk to that Schomberg
animal more than I could help? It was Martin whom he took into his
confidence."
"The stupidity of that creature is so great that it becomes formidable,"
Heyst said, as if speaking to himself.
Involuntarily, his mind turned to the girl, wandering in the forest,
alone and terrified. Would he ever see her again? At that thought he
nearly lost his self-possession.
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