tful attitude which he had assumed at
the close of his first perusal of this letter. When he lifted his face
from his hands, his lips were white, although they were twisted into the
semblance of a smile.

"So that is why I fancied I knew his face," he said, half aloud. "Who
would have thought it? Brian alive, after all! What a fool he must be!
What an unmitigated, egregious fool!"

He poured out some brandy for himself with rather a shaky hand, and
drank it off without water. He shivered a little, and drew closer to the
fire. "It's a very cold night," he muttered, holding his hands out to
the leaping flame, and resting his forehead upon the marble mantelpiece.
"It's a cold night, and ---- it all, are my wits going? I can't think
clearly; I can hardly see out of my eyes. It's the shock; that's what it
is. The shock? Yes, Dio mio, and it is a shock, in all conscience!
Whoever would have believed that Brian could possibly be alive all this
time! Poor devil! I suppose that little 'accident' to Richard preyed
upon his mind. He must be mad to have given up his property from a
scruple of that sort. I never should have thought that a man could be
such a fool. It's an awful complication."

He threw himself into an arm-chair, and leaned back with his dark,
delicately-beautiful face slanted reflectively towards the ceiling. He
was too much disturbed in mind to afford himself the solace of a cigar.

"This old fellow--the Prior--seems to know the family affairs very
intimately," he went on thinking. "This is another extraordinary
occurrence. Brian alive is nothing to the fact that Brian is the son of
some Italian woman--a peasant-woman probably. Did Aunt Margaret suspect
it? She always hated Brian; every one could see that. When she said
once, 'He is not my son,' did she mean the words literally? Quite
possible."

"And the real Brian Luttrell is now to appear on the scene! What is his
name? Dino--Bernardino--Vasari. Of course, there was little use in his
coming forward as long as Richard Luttrell was alive. Now that he is
gone and Brian is heir to the property, this young fellow, whom the
priests have got hold of, becomes important. No doubt this is what they
have hoped for all along. He will have the property and he is a devout
son of the Church, and will employ it to Catholic ends. I know the
jargon--I heard enough of it in Sicily. They have the proofs, no
doubt--they could easily manufacture them if they were wanting; and th