of chances of studying tattooing in the military hospitals."

"I have not read it myself," said old Mr. Wright, "because I am not
acquainted with the French language; but my son tells me it is a work of
great learning."

Barton could only bow, and mutter that he was glad Mr. Wright liked it.
_Why_ he should like it, or what the old gentleman wanted, he could not
even imagine.

"We are at present engaged in a very curious case, Dr. Barton," went on
the lawyer, "in which we think your special studies may assist us. The
position is this: Nearly eight months ago a client of ours died, a Mr.
Richard Johnson, of Linkheaton, in the North. You must excuse me if I
seem to be troubling you with a long story?"

Barton mentioned that he was delighted, and added, "Not at all," in the
vague modern dialect.

"This Mr. Richard Johnson, then, was a somewhat singular character. He
was what is called a 'statesman' in the North. He had a small property
of about four hundred acres, on the marches, as they say, or boarders
of the Earl of Birkenhead's lands. Here he lived almost alone, and in
a very quiet way. There was not even a village near him, and there were
few persons of his own position in life, because his little place was
almost embedded, if I may say so, in Lord Birkenhead's country, which is
pastoral. You are with me, so far?"

"Perfectly," said Barton.

"This Mr. Johnson, then, lived quite alone, with an old housekeeper,
dead since his decease, and with one son, called Richard, like himself.
The young man was of an adventurous character, a ne'er-do-weel in fact;
and about twenty years ago he left Linkheaton, after a violent quarrel
with his father. It was understood that he had run away to sea. Two
years later he returned; there was another quarrel, and the old man
turned him out, vowing that he would never forgive him. But, not long
after that, a very rich deposit of coal--a _very_ rich deposit," said
Mr. Wright, with the air of a man tasting most excellent claret--"was
discovered on this very estate of Linkheaton. Old Johnson, without much
exertion on his part, and simply through the payment of royalties by the
company that worked the coal, became exceedingly opulent, in what you
call most affluent circumstances."

Here Mr. Wright paused, as if to see whether Barton was beginning to
understand the point of the narrative, which, it is needless to remark,
he was _not_. There is no marked connection between coal mines, h