that must condemn. Yet he would do nothing underhand, he would
take no man unawares; he would tell Lord Blandamer of his discovery, and
give him warning before he took any further steps. So he wrote:

"My lord," and of the many sheets that were begun and flung away before
the letter was finished, two were spoiled because the familiar address
"Dear Lord Blandamer" came as it were automatically from Westray's pen.
He could no longer bring himself to use those words now, even as a
formality, and so he began:

"My Lord,

"I have just received your note about the picture bought by me of Miss
Joliffe. I cannot say whether I should have been willing to part with
it under ordinary circumstances. It had no apparent intrinsic value,
but for me it was associated with my friend the late Mr Sharnall,
organist of Saint Sepulchre's. We shared in its purchase, and it was
only on his death that I came into sole possession of it. You will
not have forgotten the strange circumstances of his end, and I have
not forgotten them either. My friend Mr Sharnall was well-known
among his acquaintances to be much interested in this picture. He
believed it to be of more importance than appeared, and he expressed
himself strongly to that effect in my presence, and once also, I
remember, in yours.

"But for his untimely death I think he would have long ago made the
discovery to which chance has now led me. The flowers prove to be a
mere surface painting which concealed what is undoubtedly a portrait
of the late Lord Blandamer, and at the back of the canvas were found
copies of certain entries in parish registers relating to him. I most
earnestly wish that I could end here by making over these things to
you, but they seem to me to throw so strange a light on certain past
events that I must hold myself responsible for them, and can give them
up to no private person. At the same time, I do not feel justified in
refusing to let you see picture and papers, if you should wish to do
so, and to judge yourself of their importance. I am at the above
address, and shall be ready to make an appointment at any time before
Monday next, after which date I shall feel compelled to take further
steps in this matter."

Westray's letter reached Lord Blandamer the next morning. It lay at the
bottom of a little heap of correspondence on the breakfast-table, like
the last evil lot to leap out of the sha