Burkham, suddenly abandoning all pretence of calmness.
"Has he--Sheldon--any interest in his stepdaughter's death?"
"No, certainly not. All her father's money went to him upon his marriage
with her mother. He can gain nothing by her death; on the contrary, he
may lose a good deal, for she is the heir-at-law to a large fortune."
"And if she dies, that fortune will go--"
"I really don't know where it will go," Valentine answered carelessly:
he thought the subject was altogether beside the question of Mr.
Burkham's agitation, and it was the cause of that agitation which he was
anxious to discover.
"If Mr. Sheldon can gain by his stepdaughter's death, fear him!"
exclaimed the surgeon, with sudden passion; "fear him as you would fear
death itself--worse than death, for death is neither so stealthy nor so
treacherous as he is!"
"What in Heaven's name do you mean?"
"That which I thought my lips would never utter to mortal hearing--that
which I dare not publicly proclaim, at the hazard of taking the bread out
of the mouths of my wife and children. I have kept this hateful secret
for eleven years--through many a sleepless night and dreary day. I will
tell it to you; for if there is another life in peril, that life shall be
lost through no cowardice of mine."
"What secret?" cried Valentine.
"The secret of that poor fellow's death. My God! I can remember the clasp
of his hand, and the friendly look of his eyes, the day before he died.
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