nveyed hopes to the family that might by
possibility not be realized, yet, on the other hand, to have induced
them to adopt a course on the hypothesis of his death when they believed
him still living, was almost as bad.

"I thought for a long while over the matter, and with my sister's
counsel to aid me, I determined that we should come abroad and seek out
this man, trusting that, if we found him, we could induce him to accept
of the legacy which his family rejected. We obtained every clew we could
think of to his detection. A perfect description of him, in voice, look,
and manner; a copy of his portrait, and a specimen of his handwriting;
and then we bethought ourselves of interesting you in the search. You
were rambling about the world in that idle and desultory way in which
any sort of a pursuit might be a boon,--as often in the by-paths as
on the high-roads; you might chance to hit off this discovery in some
remote spot, or, at all events, find some clew to it. In a word, we grew
to believe that, with you to aid us, we should get to the bottom of this
mystery; and now that by a lucky chance we have met you, our hopes are
all the stronger."

"You 'll think it strange," said I, "but I already know something of
this story; the man you allude to was Sir Samuel Whalley."

"How on earth have you guessed that?"

"I came by the knowledge on a railroad journey, where my
fellow-passengers talked over the event, and I subsequently travelled
with Sir Samuel's daughter, who came abroad to fill the station of a
companion to an elderly lady. She called herself Miss Herbert."

"Exactly! The widow resumed her family name after W.'s suicide,--if it
were a suicide."

"How singular to think that you should have chanced upon this link of
the chain! And do you know her?"

"Intimately; we were fellow-travellers for some days."

"And where is she now?"

"She is, at this moment, at a villa on the Lake of Como, living with a
Mrs. Keats, the sister of her Majesty's Envoy at Kalbbratonstadt."

"You are marvellously accurate in this narrative, Potts," said he,
laughing; "the impression made on you by this young lady can scarcely
have been a transient one."

I suppose I grew very red,--I felt that I was much confused by this
remark,--and I turned away to conceal my emotion. Crofton was too
delicate to take any advantage of my distress, and merely added,--

"From having known her, you will naturally devote yourself with more
ardor