m for that. I sp'iled him as much as anybody, I guess.
'Twas later on that we.... Well, never mind that, either. What is it he
wants of me, after eighteen years?"

"He wants a good deal of you, Captain Warren. Or _did_ want it."

"Did? Don't he want it now?"

"I don't know. Captain, I'm surprised that you haven't heard. It seems
that I am the bearer of bad news. Your brother--"

"Is 'Bije _dead_?"

"He died ten days ago very suddenly. In a way it was a great shock to us
all, yet we have known that his heart was weak. He realized it, too."

"So 'Bije is dead, hey?" Captain Elisha's face was very grave, and he
spoke slowly. "Dead! Well, well, well!"

He paused and looked into the fire. Graves saw again that vague
resemblance he had caught on the train, but had forgotten. He knew now
why he noticed it. Unlike as the two brothers were, unlike in almost
every way, the trace of family likeness was there. This sunburned,
retired captain _was_ the New York financier's elder brother. And this
certainty made Mr. Graves's errand more difficult, and the cause of it
more inexplicable.

Captain Elisha cleared his throat.

"Well, well!" he sighed. "So 'Bije has gone. I s'pose you think it's
odd, maybe," he went on, "that I ain't more struck down by the news. In
a way, I am, and, in a way, I'm mighty sorry, too. But, to speak truth,
he and I have been so apart, and have had nothin' to do with each other
for so long that--that, well, I've come to feel as if I didn't have a
brother. And I know he felt that way. Yes, and _wanted_ to feel so--I
know that."

"I wouldn't say that, if I were you," observed the lawyer, gently. "I
think you're mistaken there."

"I ain't mistaken. Why, look here, Mr. Graves! There was a time when
I'd have got down on my knees and crawled from here to New York to help
'Bije Warren. I lent him money to start in business. Later on him and I
went into partnership together on a--a fool South American speculation
that didn't pan out for nothin'. I didn't care for that. I took my
chance same as he did, we formed a stock company all amongst ourselves,
and I've got my share of the stock somewhere yet. It may come in handy
if I ever want to paper the barn. But 'twa'n't business deals of that
kind that parted us, 'twas another matter. Somethin' that he did to
other folks who'd trusted us and.... Humph! this don't interest you, of
course.... Well, 'Bije was well off, I know. His wife died way back
in the ninet