If anyone does wander through the gardens, I should set him
down as a monomaniac or an intending burglar, and in any case the very
best thing you can do is to pack up your traps and leave River Hall to
its fate."
I did not answer; indeed, I felt too sick at heart to do so. What he
said was what other people would say. If I could not evolve some clearer
theory than I had yet been able to hit on, I should be compelled to
leave the mystery of River Hall just as I had found it. Miss Blake had,
I knew, written to Mr. Craven that the house had better be let again, as
there "was no use in his keeping a clerk there in free lodgings for
ever": and now came Ned Munro, with his worldly wisdom, to assure me
mine was a wild-goose chase, and that the only sensible course for me to
pursue was to abandon it altogether. For the first time, I felt
disheartened about the business, and I suppose I showed my
disappointment, for Munro, drawing his chair nearer to me, laid a
friendly hand on my shoulder and said:
"Cheer up, Harry! never look so downhearted because your nervous system
has been playing you false. It was a plucky thing to do, and to carry
out; but you have suffered enough for honour, and I should not continue
the experiment of trying how much you can suffer, were I in your shoes.
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