When I had finished my story, he remained silent
for some minutes: but he still stared at me with the same relentless and
stony gaze, and he still fingered his knees, following up his right hand
with his left, as slowly and deliberately as if he had been composing a
fugue after the manner of Mendelssohn.
"'And up to the time of that interview at Maudesley Abbey, Miss Wilmot
had stuck to the idea that Henry Dunbar was the murderer of her father?'
he said, at last.
"'Most resolutely.'
"'And after that interview the young lady changed her opinion all of a
sudden, and would have it that the banker was innocent?' asked Mr.
Carter.
"'Yes; when Margaret returned from Maudesley Abbey she declared her
conviction of Henry Dunbar's innocence.'
"'And she refused to fulfil her engagement with you?'
"'She did.'
"The detective left off fingering fugues upon his knees, and began to
scratch his head, slowly pushing his hand up and down amongst his
iron-grey hair, and staring at me. I saw now that this stony glare was
only the fixed expression of Mr. Carter's face when he was thinking
profoundly, and that the relentlessness of his gaze had very little
relation to the object at which he gazed.
"I watched his face as he pondered, in the hope of seeing some sudden
mental illumination light up his stolid countenance: but I watched in
vain.
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