At the same time, I must tell you that I am glad of
your decision, Professor."
"It is my duty," the latter declared. "I cannot rest in this state of
uncertainty. If Craig is lost to me, the sooner I face the fact the
better. At the same time I will be frank with you. Notwithstanding all
this accumulated pile of evidence I feel in my heart the urgent necessity
of seeing him face to face, of holding him by the shoulders and asking him
whether these things are true. We have faced death together, Craig and I.
We have done more than that--we have courted it. There is nothing about
him I can accept from hearsay. I shall go with you to England, Mr. Quest."
2.
The Professor rose from his seat in some excitement as the carriage passed
through the great gates of Hamblin Park. He acknowledged with a smile the
respectful curtsey of the woman who held it open.
"You have now an opportunity, my dear Mr. Quest," he said, "of
appreciating one feature of English life not entirely reproducible in your
own wonderful country. I mean the home life and surroundings of our
aristocracy. You see these oak trees?" he went on, with a little wave of
his hand. "They were planted by my ancestors in the days of Henry the
Eighth. I have been a student of tree life in South America and in the
dense forests of Central Africa, but for real character, for splendour of
growth and hardiness, there is nothing in the world to touch the Ashleigh
oaks."
"They're some trees," the criminologist admitted.
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