But in another minute the
real meaning of the thing came clearer upon me, and I recoiled from the
bare sound of those horrid words, a free pardon. I didn't want to be
pardoned like a convicted felon: I wanted to have my innocence proved
before the eyes of all England. For my own sake, and still more for
Emily's sake, rehabilitation was all I cared for. "Sir," I said, touching my cap respectfully, and saluting the Governor
according to our wonted prison discipline, "I am very greatly obliged to
you for your kindness in having made this representation to the Home
Secretary; but I feel compelled to say I cannot accept a free pardon. I
am wholly guiltless of the crime of which I have been convicted; and I
wish that instead of pardoning me the Home Secretary would give
instructions to the detective police to make a thorough investigation of
the case, with the object of proving my complete innocence. Till that is
done, I prefer to remain an inmate of Portland Prison. What I wish is
not pardon, but to be restored as an honest man to the society of my
equals." The Governor paused for a moment, and consulted quietly in an undertone
with one or two of his subordinates. Then he turned to me with great
kindness, and said in a loud voice, "No. 1430, I have no power any
longer to detain you in this prison, even if I wished to do so, after
you have once obtained Her Majesty's free pardon. My duty is to dismiss
you at once, in accordance with the terms of this document. However, I
will communicate the substance of your request to the Home Secretary,
with whom such a petition, so made, will doubtless have the full weight
that may rightly attach to it. You must now go with these warders, who
will restore you your own clothes, and then formally set you at liberty. But if there is anything further you would wish to speak to me about,
you can do so afterward in your private capacity as a free man at two
o'clock in my own office." I thanked him quietly and then withdrew. At two o'clock I duly presented
myself in ordinary clothes at the Governor's office. We had a long and confidential interview, in the course of which I was
able to narrate to the Governor at full length all the facts of my
strange story exactly as I have here detailed them. He listened to me
with the greatest interest, checking and confirming my statements at
length by reference to the file of papers brought to him by a clerk. When I had finished my whole story, he said to me quite simply, "Mr.
Tait, it may be imprudent of me in my position and under such peculiar
circumstances to say so, but I fully and unreservedly believe your
statement. If anything that I can say or do can be of any assistance to
you in proving your innocence, I shall be very happy indeed to exert all
my influence in your favour." I thanked him warmly with tears in my eyes. "And there is one point in your story," he went on, "to which I, who
have seen a good deal of such doubtful cases, attach the very highest
importance. You say that gold clippings, pronounced to be similar in
character to the gold Wulfric, were found shortly after by a cleaner at
the Museum on the cocoa-nut matting of the floor where the coin was
examined by you?" I nodded, blushing crimson. "That," I said, "seems to me the strangest
and most damning circumstance against me in the whole story." "Precisely," the Governor answered quietly. "And if what you say is the
truth (as I believe it to be), it is also the circumstance which best
gives us a clue to use against the real culprit. The person who stole
the coin was too clever by half, or else not quite clever enough for his
own protection. In manufacturing that last fatal piece of evidence
against you he was also giving you a certain clue to his own identity." "How so?" I asked, breathless. "Why, don't you see? The thief must in all probability have been
somebody connected with the Museum. He must have seen you comparing the
Wulfric with your own coin. He must have picked it up and carried it
off secretly at the moment you dropped it. He must have clipped the
coin to manufacture further hostile evidence. And he must have dropped
the clippings afterwards on the cocoa-nut matting in the same gallery on
purpose in order to heighten the suspicion against you." "You are right," I cried, brightening up at the luminous
suggestion--"you are right, obviously. And there is only one man who
could have seen and heard enough to carry out this abominable
plot--Mactavish!" "Well, find him out and prove the case against him, Mr. Tait," the
Governor said warmly, "and if you send him here to us I can promise you
that he will be well taken care of." I bowed and thanked him, and was about to withdraw, but he held out his
hand to me with perfect frankness. "Mr. Tait," he said, "I can't let you go away so. Let me have your hand
in token that you bear us no grudge for the way we have treated you
during your unfortunate imprisonment, and that I, for my part, am
absolutely satisfied of the truth of your statement." III. The moment I arrived in London I drove straight off without delay to
Emily's. I had telegraphed beforehand that I had been granted a free
pardon, but had not stopped to tell her why or under what conditions. Emily met me in tears in the passage. "Harold! Harold!" she cried,
flinging her arms wildly around me. "Oh, my darling! my darling! how can
I ever say it to you? Mamma says she won't allow me to see you here any
longer." It was a terrible blow, but I was not unprepared for it. How could I
expect that poor, conventional, commonplace old lady to have any faith
in me after all she had read about me in the newspapers? "Emily," I said, kissing her over and over again tenderly, "you must
come out with me, then, this very minute, for I want to talk with you
over matters of importance. Whether your mother wishes it or not, you
must come out with me this very minute." Emily put on her bonnet hastily and walked out with me into the streets
of London. It was growing dark, and the neighbourhood was a very quiet
one; or else perhaps even my own Emily would have felt a little ashamed
of walking about the streets of London with a man whose hair was still
cropped short around his head like a common felon's. I told her all the story of my release, and Emily listened to it in
profound silence. "Harold!" she cried, "my darling Harold!" (when I told her the tale of
my desperate battle over the fallen warder), "you are the bravest and
best of men. I knew you would vindicate yourself sooner or later. What
we have to do now is to show that Mactavish stole the Wulfric. I know he
stole it; I read it at the trial in his clean-shaven villain's face. I
shall prove it still, and then you will be justified in the eyes of
everybody." "But how can we manage to communicate meanwhile, darling?" I cried
eagerly. "If your mother won't allow you to see me, how are we ever to
meet and consult about it?"