t?"

"In London; he is an Englishman."

"Ah!" he murmured, with a strange intonation.

"Why do you say that?"

He bit his lip, looked down, then up, finally fixed his eyes on mine,
and returned, with marked emphasis: "I used an exclamation, sir, because
I was startled."

"Startled?"

"Yes; you say he is an Englishman. Mr. Leavenworth had the most bitter
antagonism to the English. It was one of his marked peculiarities. He
would never be introduced to one if he could help it."

It was my turn to look thoughtful.

"You know," continued the secretary, "that Mr. Leavenworth was a man who
carried his prejudices to the extreme. He had a hatred for the English
race amounting to mania. If he had known the letter I have mentioned was
from an Englishman, I doubt if he would have read it. He used to say he
would sooner see a daughter of his dead before him than married to an
Englishman."

I turned hastily aside to hide the effect which this announcement made
upon me.

"You think I am exaggerating," he said. "Ask Mr. Veeley."

"No," I replied. "I have no reason for thinking so."

"He had doubtless some cause for hating the English with which we are
unacquainted," pursued the secretary. "He spent some time in Liverpool
when young, and had, of course, many opportunities for studying their
manners and character." And the secretary made another movement, as if
to leave.

But it was my turn to detain him now. "Mr. Harwell, you must excuse me.
You have been on familiar terms with Mr. Leavenworth for so long. Do you
think that, in the case of one of his nieces, say, desiring to marry a
gentleman of that nationality, his prejudice was sufficient to cause him
to absolutely forbid the match?"

"I do."

I moved back. I had learned what I wished, and saw no further reason for
prolonging the interview.

XXII. PATCH-WORK

"Come, give us a taste of your quality."
Hamlet.

STARTING with the assumption that Mr. Clavering in his conversation of
the morning had been giving me, with more or less accuracy, a
detailed account of his own experience and position regarding Eleanore
Leavenworth, I asked myself what particular facts it would be necessary
for me to establish in order to prove the truth of this assumption, and
found them to be:

I. That Mr. Clavering had not only been in this country at the time
designated, but that he had been located for some little time at a
watering-place in New York State.