results?" interjected Burchill.

Barthorpe made a wry face.

"Unfortunately, no!" he replied. "He did remarkably well to a certain
point--then he made some most foolish and risky speculations in American
railroads, lost pretty nearly everything he'd made, and died a poorish
man."

"Oh--he's dead, then?" remarked Burchill.

"He's dead--years ago," replied Barthorpe. "He died before I came to
England. I, of course, was born out there. I----."

"Never mind you just now," interrupted Burchill. "Keep to the earlier
branches of the family. Your grandfather had one other child?"

"A daughter," assented Barthorpe. "I never saw her, either. However, I
know that her name was Susan. I also know that she married a man named
Wynne--my cousin's father, of course. I don't know who he was or
anything about him."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing--nothing at all: My Uncle Jacob never spoke of him to
me--except to mention that such a person had once existed. My cousin
doesn't know anything about him, either. All she knows is that her
father and mother died when she was about--I think--two years old, and
that Jacob then took charge of her. When she was six years old, he
brought her to live with him. That was about the time I myself came to
England."

"All right," said Burchill. "Now, we'll come to you. Tell about
yourself. It all matters."

"Well, of course, I don't know what you're getting at," replied
Barthorpe. "But I'm sure you do. Myself, eh? Well, I was put to the Law
out there in Canada. When my father died--not over well off--I wrote to
Uncle Jacob, telling him all about how things were. He suggested that I
should come over to this country, finish my legal training here, and
qualify. He also promised--if I suited him--to give me his legal work.
And, of course, I came."

"Naturally," said Burchill. "And that's--how long ago?"

"Between fifteen and sixteen years," answered Barthorpe.

"Did Jacob Herapath take you into his house?" asked Burchill, continuing
the examination which Barthorpe was beginning to find irksome as well as
puzzling. "I'm asking all this for good reasons--it's necessary, if you're
to understand what I'm going to tell you."

"Oh, as long as you're going to tell me something I don't mind telling you
anything you like to ask," replied Barthorpe. "That's what I want to be
getting at. No--he didn't take me into the house. But he gave me a very
good allowance, paid all my expenses until I got through my remaini