rt) contributed about four
hundred and ninety-nine five-hundredths of the interview, and elicited
from Abbas literally nothing. It was dull for Julia, who did not require
to listen; for the Dutch courier, who had to answer, it must have been a
perfect nightmare. It would seem as if he had consoled himself by
frequent appliances to the bottle; it would even seem that (toward the
end) he had ceased to depend on Joseph's frugal generosity and called
for the flagon on his own account. The effect, at least, of some
mellowing influence was visible in the record: Abbas became suddenly a
willing witness; he began to volunteer disclosures; and Julia had just
looked up from her seam with something like a smile, when Morris burst
into the house, eagerly calling for his uncle, and the next instant
plunged into the room, waving in the air the evening paper.

It was indeed with great news that he came charged. The demise was
announced of Lieutenant-General Sir Glasgow Biggar, K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G.,
etc., and the prize of the tontine now lay between the Finsbury
brothers. Here was Morris's opportunity at last. The brothers had never,
it is true, been cordial. When word came that Joseph was in Asia Minor,
Masterman had expressed himself with irritation. "I call it simply
indecent," he had said. "Mark my words--we shall hear of him next at the
North Pole." And these bitter expressions had been reported to the
traveller on his return. What was worse, Masterman had refused to attend
the lecture on "Education: Its Aims, Objects, Purposes, and
Desirability," although invited to the platform. Since then the brothers
had not met. On the other hand, they never had openly quarrelled; Joseph
(by Morris's orders) was prepared to waive the advantage of his
juniority; Masterman had enjoyed all through life the reputation of a
man neither greedy nor unfair. Here, then, were all the elements of
compromise assembled; and Morris, suddenly beholding his seven thousand
eight hundred pounds restored to him, and himself dismissed from the
vicissitudes of the leather trade, hastened the next morning to the
office of his cousin Michael.

Michael was something of a public character. Launched upon the law at a
very early age, and quite without protectors, he had become a trafficker
in shady affairs. He was known to be the man for a lost cause; it was
known he could extract testimony from a stone, and interest from a gold
mine; and his office was besieged in cons