circumstances.

Our next communication was from the Glasgow lawyer, who requested Val's
presence there to consult about matters, as my brother was the only
person to whom Gowan had spoken on the subject of a second will. I was
too much interested in the mystery to let Val go alone, and he was
delighted to have my company, so once more we set off for the distant
city.

Dalziel, the lawyer in question, received us in his private office on
the morning after our arrival. He was a small gray man, with keen
black eyes that twinkled behind his gold-rimmed spectacles now and
again when an ordinary man would have smiled. His statement of affairs
was indeed not reassuring. Every scrap of paper left behind by Gowan
had been carefully examined by one of his responsible clerks, but
nothing in the shape of a will had been discovered. Had there been no
previous will, Christian Logan's boy might have claimed the estate as
next of kin; but that was now not possible. To bring the matter before
the law courts was equally futile; the law took cognizance of a man's
wishes expressed in writing, and no evidence of a verbal declaration on
his part would suffice to set aside a written document.

"I am afraid, Father Fleming," said the lawyer, summing up his report,
"that there is no case to go upon for the Logan family."

"But I am convinced," replied Val, "that Gowan has made another will.
He sent for me to tell me so, and to ask me to help the Logans in the
matter. The will must be somewhere. The question is: Where?"

"I am inclined to think that he never made a second will," the lawyer
went on to say. "Not that I think he meant to deceive you," he added
hastily, as he noticed Val's air of protest. "But it has often come
within my experience that a man in such a weak state may persuade
himself that he has already accomplished something which he has fixed
his mind upon doing, while all the time nothing has been actually done."

Val, however, could not be convinced that such was the case in the
present instance, and I could not help agreeing with him.

"It would be as well if you would call at Gowan's hotel before you
leave Glasgow," said Dalziel, as our interview came to an end. "There
are some clothes, traveling-cases, rugs, and such like, which it would
be absurd to send to America, and equally absurd to sell. They will be
something for the Logons if you think well to take them. I can easily
arrange with the legatees on t