ispatched by a local banker to a well-known Calcutta
firm, which reached Madame Louison, and old Hugh Johnstone, busied at
his lawyers, or sitting alone at night with Douglas Fraser in Calcutta,
smiled grimly, when he, too, received his data as to Hawke's progress.
A growing coldness which had cut off Hardwicke's friendship seemed to
interest Hugh Johnstone. "I suppose that old Willonghby thinks Hawke is
spying upon him. Just as well!"

There had been a lightning activity in the old man's movements before
Madame Louison arrived in Calcutta. He was fighting for his future peace
and his coveted honors. The lawyer with whom he spent his first day was
astounded at the peculiar nature of the last will and testament which
the old nabob ordered him to draft at once. "The steamer, Lord Roberts,
goes to-morrow, and I wish a duplicate to be deposited here in the bank,
under your care, as I shall write to my senior executor regarding it."

The nabob's remark, "Make your fees what you will. I give you carte
blanche!" had silenced the remonstrances which rose to the lawyer's
lips. "I know what I am doing, Hodgkinson," said Hugh Johnstone. "Blood
is thicker than water! I can trust nothing else. These two men as
executors will exactly carry out my wishes. In naming a guardian by
will, for my daughter, I do not forget that she is yet a child at
eighteen, and, at twenty-one, she may be the destined prey of many a
fortune hunter! As for my directions and restrictions, I know my own
mind!"

When Hugh Johnstone, Esq., of Delhi and Calcutta, had seen the fleet
steamer, Lord Roberts, sail away for London, bearing a carefully
registered document addressed to "Professor Andrew Fraser, St. Agnes
Road, St. Heliers, Jersey, Channel Islands, England," he could not
remember a detail forgotten in the voluminous letters of positive orders
now also on their way to his distant brother. He smiled grimly as he
entered the P. and O. office, and, after a private interview with the
manager, called his nephew, Douglas Fraser, away to a private luncheon.
They had first visited the one bank, which Johnstone trusted, and there
deposited a sealed document to the order of "Douglas Fraser, executor."
The young man had been alarmed at his stern old uncle's curtness, on the
return trip from Allahabad, his strange manner and his grim silence. But
he was simply astounded when his nabob relative quietly said:

"I have obtained a six months' leave of absence for you!