The stranger’s protruding eyes flashed with a singular brightness at the question. Then he sighed and again pressed the palm of his hand across his brow.
“Your courtesy, sir, undoubtedly deserves some explanation of the plight you have so generously relieved.” The man’s tone and phrasing indicated a person accustomed to put his thoughts into an elaborated word-structure for the attention of an audience. “I hardly think that accident is the correct description of my misfortune. I am the victim, sir, of a traitorous chain of circumstances, a chain of circumstances so strange as to be scarcely credible.”
“Indeed?” Mr. Gilchrist had reseated himself and now bent forward, his face alight with interest kindled by his guest’s last sentence. “If I can help you in any way, I shall be glad to do so.”
The stranger acknowledged the offer by a downward inclination of the head.
“Your great kindness of heart needs no further exposition, sir--it is self-evident. I have no words sufficient to thank you. I greatly fear, however, that I am beyond human help. A matter of a few hours is the utmost respite from my fate that I can expect. None the less, I am deeply grateful to you for this breathing-space.”
The stranger sighed again, and his countenance settled into a resigned melancholy.
“You make me curious,” said Mr. Gilchrist. “Of course, I don’t wish to intrude----”
The old gentleman raised his eyebrows and made a protesting movement with his hand.
“In all probability, sir, you will soon be made acquainted with a garbled newspaper version of the calamity which has befallen me. Its dreadful nature is bound to flare into publicity. It is useless, therefore, for me to attempt to conceal it. If you care to hear the true version of a tragedy which every newsboy will be shouting to-morrow morning--a version stranger than the one counsel for defence and prosecution will adopt as a battle-ground for their wits--I will do my best to gratify your curiosity. I may say that it will be some comfort to me to know that one fellow human being--especially so kind-hearted a one as yourself--is acquainted with the real facts.”
“My dear sir!” began Mr. Gilchrist. “Surely--you are overwrought--an accident--I cannot believe----”