“Now we get another lifelike report of runaway Robert; and finally Bendigo consents to visit him in his hiding-place.  The lamp is going to burn and show the particular cave on that honeycombed coast where Bendigo’s brother is supposed to be concealed.  Another night comes and Ben goes to his death.  Probably he was murdered instantly on landing and disposed of at sea.  Again there is going to be no dead man.  Pendean returns to you and his wife at ‘Crow’s Nest.’  He reports that the brothers are conferring and reveals the situation of the hiding-place.  He is soon off again and, on his second visit, plays his tiger tricks, runs a bloody trail up the tunnel to the plateau, and sets his trap for the police next morning.

“One needn’t go over the futile hunt that followed.  Everything worked exactly as Pendean had planned, and you can very easily picture the entertainment furnished for that vampire pair by the course of the subsequent man hunt.

“Two Redmaynes have gone to their account and there remains but one.  Meantime the course of true love runs smoothly and Doria marries his wife again.  So, at least, they are pleased to declare, for the satisfaction of Albert Redmayne and yourself.  Needless to say they went south together as man and wife, reported a ceremony that did not take place, and after a reasonable delay turned their attention to my hapless friend.

“Would you not have thought some ray of human truth might have touched their hearts in the company of that childlike and kindly spirit?  Would you not have judged that close acquaintance with one so amiable and large-hearted must have wakened a spark of compassion in their souls?  No; they came to kill him and the unsuspecting victim welcomes his murderers with friendship.  It is interesting to observe that he prefers Giuseppe to his own niece.  He confessed to me that Jenny puzzled him and it seemed strange to Albert that she had forgotten her first husband so easily.  His tender sensibilities could not admire such indifference; and no doubt he also remembered that his niece’s early record, in marrying Pendean against her family’s wishes, too much reminded him of her father’s wilful ways and headstrong passions.

“But they come on their dark business and are welcomed; and then—­an insensate act of folly!  The weak spot in their remorseless plan!  Again Doria rouses Robert Redmayne from the grave; again he challenges you!  A thousand simple and safe ways had offered to dispose of Albert Redmayne.  The region in which he chose to live and his own trusting and ingenuous character had alike made him the easiest possible prey of any human hunter; but Michael’s vanity has grown by what it feeds on.  He is an artist, and he desires to complete his masterpiece with all due regard to form.  It must be fashioned to endure and take its place forever in the highest categories of crime.  His pride rebels against the line of least resistance.  All shall end on the same large pattern in which it was originally conceived.  He courts danger and creates difficulty that his ultimate achievement may be the more august.