er the old house. She
took Colwyn under her special charge, and, forgetful of the real object
of the detective's visit, discoursed impressively to him on the past
glories of the Heredith line. She lingered long in each room, all rich
in memories of the past, pointing out the objects of interest with
loving pride. It would have been a disappointment to her if she had
known that the guest who walked beside her, listening to her stories and
legends of each antique relic and ancient picture, had his thoughts
fixed on far different matters. Colwyn's reasons for seeing the
moat-house had little to do with ancient oak, carved ceilings, panelled
walls, and old family portraits.

It was not until they descended to the gun-room that Colwyn's keen
professional scrutiny suggested, by force of contrast, that his former
air of interest had been largely feigned. There were several underground
rooms, entered by a short flight of stone steps, with an oak door at the
top and bottom. The two principal rooms were the armoury, full of
armour, spears, lances and bows, and the gun-room adjoining. What
arrested Colwyn's attention in the latter room was the display of guns
on the walls. There were many varieties of them: rifled harquebuses,
obsolete carbines, flint-lock muskets, and modern rifles; in fact, the
whole evolution of explosive weapons, from the first rude beginnings
down to the breech-loader of the present day.

"The Herediths have ever been a family of great warriors, Mr. Colwyn,"
said Miss Heredith, following his glance along the walls. "Each of those
weapons has some story of bravery, I might almost say heroism, attached
to it. That sword you are looking at belonged to my grand-uncle, who
commanded the British Army in the Peninsula. He was originally a major
in the 14th Foot."

"I was under the impression that Wellington commanded in Portugal," said
Musard.

"My grand-uncle was Sir Arthur Wellesley's senior officer, Vincent,"
responded Miss Heredith. "He arrived in Portugal in 1809 to take
command, but Sir Arthur most culpably failed to have horses ready to
carry him to the field of battle. In consequence of Sir Arthur's neglect
my grand-uncle was compelled to take the next boat back to England.
There was a question asked in the Commons of the day about Sir Arthur's
conduct. I do not know what the question was, but the answer was in the
negative, though I am not quite sure what that means. In any case, my
grand-uncle was a g