His keen eyes
penetrated the disguise of this reputable aspect at once, though he
sedulously kept his own counsel. He heard the details of the death in the
rounds of the mountain gossip, and divined what Clenk's errand had been.
He deemed that the effort to turn State's evidence had met its condign
punishment, and he felt more assured and secure now that it had been
attempted and had failed.
Bayne, however, had scant time to push his investigations here, where
indeed the ground had been previously so thoroughly searched, for he was
summoned away by another lure of a clue far to the northeast. His recent
bitter disappointment, on the verge of a discovery of importance, perhaps
enabled him better to bear in this instance the result of a fruitless
quest, for he had definitely ceased to hope. He had begun to believe the
child was dead. Clenk's words implied no present knowledge of his
seclusion. The allusion to a severe illness suggested possibilities of
relapse, of a weakening of the constitution as much from lack of proper
attention and nourishment as from disease.
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