talked and talked
until gradually my bitterness began to soften and to turn into
something like sympathy. What was the use of revenging his death upon
a man who was as much stricken by that death as I was? And then, as my
wits gradually returned, I began to realize also that I could do
nothing against MacCoy which would not recoil upon my mother and
myself. How could we convict him without a full account of my
brother's career being made public--the very thing which of all others
we wished to avoid? It was really as much our interest as his to cover
the matter up, and from being an avenger of crime I found myself
changed to a conspirator against Justice. The place in which we found
ourselves was one of those pheasant preserves which are so common in
the Old Country, and as we groped our way through it I found myself
consulting the slayer of my brother as to how far it would be possible
to hush it up.

"I soon realized from what he said that unless there were some papers
of which we knew nothing in my brother's pockets, there was really no
possible means by which the police could identify him or learn how he
had got there. His ticket was in MacCoy's pocket, and so was the
ticket for some baggage which they had left at the depot. Like most
Americans, he had found it cheaper and easier to buy an outfit in
London than to bring one from New York, so that all his linen and
clothes were new and unmarked. The bag, containing the dust-cloak,
which I had thrown out of the window, may have fallen among some
bramble patch where it is still concealed, or may have been carried off
by some tramp, or may have come into the possession of the police, who
kept the incident to themselves. Anyhow, I have seen nothing about it
in the London papers. As to the watches, they were a selection from
those which had been intrusted to him for business purposes. It may
have been for the same business purposes that he was taking them to
Manchester, but--well, it's too late to enter into that.

"I don't blame the police for being at fault. I don't see how it could
have been otherwise. There was just one little clue that they might
have followed up, but it was a small one. I mean that small, circular
mirror which was found in my brother's pocket. It isn't a very common
thing for a young man to carry about with him, is it? But a gambler
might have told you what such a mirror may mean to a card-sharper. If
you sit back a little from the t