search of the carriage.

They found Mr. Salton's bailiff looking out for them on the dock, and he
brought them at once to where the carriage was waiting in the street.
Richard Salton pointed out with pride to his young companion the
suitability of the vehicle for every need of travel. To it were
harnessed four useful horses, with a postillion to each pair.

"See," said the old man proudly, "how it has all the luxuries of useful
travel--silence and isolation as well as speed. There is nothing to
obstruct the view of those travelling and no one to overhear what they
may say. I have used that trap for a quarter of a century, and I never
saw one more suitable for travel. You shall test it shortly. We are
going to drive through the heart of England; and as we go I'll tell you
what I was speaking of last night. Our route is to be by Salisbury,
Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Worcester, Stafford; and so home."

Adam remained silent a few minutes, during which he seemed all eyes, for
he perpetually ranged the whole circle of the horizon.

"Has our journey to-day, sir," he asked, "any special relation to what
you said last night that you wanted to tell me?"

"Not directly; but indirectly, everything."

"Won't you tell me now--I see we cannot be overheard--and if anything
strikes you as we go along, just run it in. I shall understand."

So old Salton spoke:

"To begin at the beginning, Adam. That lecture of yours on 'The Romans
in Britain,' a report of which you posted to me, set me thinking--in
addition to telling me your tastes. I wrote to you at once and asked you
to come home, for it struck me that if you were fond of historical
research--as seemed a fact--this was exactly the place for you, in
addition to its being the home of your own forbears. If you could learn
so much of the British Romans so far away in New South Wales, where there
cannot be even a tradition of them, what might you not make of the same
amount of study on the very spot. Where we are going is in the real
heart of the old kingdom of Mercia, where there are traces of all the
various nationalities which made up the conglomerate which became
Britain."

"I rather gathered that you had some more definite--more personal reason
for my hurrying. After all, history can keep--except in the making!"

"Quite right, my boy. I had a reason such as you very wisely guessed. I
was anxious for you to be here when a rather important phase of our local
his