tedly: and
Val's violet eyes, beautiful as ever, shone out their welcome; and Anne,
who happened to have her baby on her lap, blushed and smiled, as she held
it out for the barrister's inspection.

"I dare not take it," said he. "You would be up in arms if it were
dropped. What is its name?"

"Reginald."

A little while, and she carried the child away, leaving them alone. Mr.
Carr declined refreshment for the present; and he and Val strolled out
arm-in-arm.

"I have brought you an item of news, Hartledon. Gorton has turned up."

"Not Gordon?"

"No. And what's more, Gorton never was Gordon. You were right, and
I was wrong. I would have bet a ten-pound note--a great venture for a
barrister--that the men were the same; never, in point of fact, had a
doubt of it."

"You would not listen to me," said Val. "I told you I was sure I could
not have failed to recognize Gordon, had he been the one who was down at
Calne with the writ."

"But you acknowledged that it might have been he, nevertheless; that his
red hair might have been false; that you never had a distinct view of the
man's face; and that the only time you spoke to him was in the gloaming,"
reiterated Thomas Carr. "Well, as it turns out, we might have spared half
our pains and anxiety, for Gorton was never any one but himself: an
innocent sheriff's officer, as far as you are concerned, who had never,
in his life set eyes on Val Elster until he went after him to Calne."

"Didn't I say so?" reiterated Val. "Gordon would have known me too well
to arrest Edward for me."

"But you admitted the general likeness between you and your brother; and
Gordon had not seen you for three years or more."

"Yes; I admitted all you say, and perhaps was a little doubtful myself.
But I soon shook off the doubt, and of late years have been sure that
Gordon was really dead. It has been more than a conviction. I always said
there were no grounds for connecting the two together."

"I had my grounds for doing it," remarked the barrister. "Gorton, it
seems, has been in Australia ever since. No wonder Green could not
unearth him in London. He's back again on a visit, looking like a
gentleman; and really I can't discover that there was ever anything
against him, except that he was down in the world. Taylor met him the
other day, and I had him brought to my chambers; and have told you the
result."

"You do not now feel any doubt that Gordon's dead?"

"None at all. Your friend, Go