of the case."

"That I can scarcely give you. His last letter to me is full of
questions which I cannot answer; but you shall read it for yourself.
Will you send upstairs for my writing-desk?"

"We 'll con that over to-morrow after breakfast, when our heads will be
clearer and brighter. Have you old Lami's journal with you?"

"No. All my papers are with Kelson. The only thing I have here is a
sketch in colored chalk of my grandmother, in her eighteenth year, as
a Flora, and, from the date, it must have been done in Ireland, when
Giacomo was working at the frescos."

"That my father," said Pracontal, after a pause, "counted with
certainty on this succession, all his own papers show, as well as the
care he bestowed on my early education, and the importance he attached
to my knowing and speaking English perfectly. But my father cared far
more for a conspiracy than a fortune. He was one of those men who only
seem to live when they are confronted by a great danger, and I believe
there has not been a great plot in Europe these last five-and-thirty
years without his name being in it. He was twice handed over to the
French authorities by the English Government, and there is some reason
to believe that the Bramleighs were the secret instigators of the
extradition. There was no easier way of getting rid of his claims."

"These are disabilities which do not attach to you."

"No, thank Heaven. I have gone no farther with these men than mere
acquaintance. I know them all, and they know me well enough to know that
I deem it the greatest disaster of my life that my father was one of
them. It is not too much to say that a small part of the energy he
bestowed on schemes of peril and ruin would have sufficed to have
vindicated his claim to wealth and fortune."

"You told me, I think, that Kelson hinted at the possibility of some
compromise,--something which, sparing _them_ the penalty of publicity,
would still secure to _you_ an ample fortune."

"Yes. What he said was, 'Juries are, with all their honesty of
intention, capricious things to trust to;' and that, not being rich
enough to suffer repeated defeats, an adverse verdict might be fatal to
me. I did n't like the reasoning altogether, but I was so completely
in his hands that I forbore to make any objection, and so the matter
remained."

"I suspect he was right," said Longworth, thoughtfully. "At the same
time, the case must be strong enough to promise victory, to sustain t