when the house was burned,--did Mr. Thompson say?" he
inquired, trying hard to control his excitement.

"Not exactly," I replied; "but he told me that he had a record
somewhere. You could probably ascertain from him."

The next morning I went trouting alone, and did not return to the house
until afternoon. When I did so I found a note awaiting me.

It proved to be from my friend, and said that for special reasons he had
decided to return to the city that day. He was sorry not to see me
again, but hoped to do so before long. I, in turn, was quite anxious to
meet him again, and learn why he had returned so unexpectedly, and to
know the cause of his singular manner upon finding the rusty knife. The
two events were naturally connected in my mind, and also our previous
conversation when he had shown me the picture of the young lady.

Three weeks later I was in Boston, and almost at once visited Mr.
Gault's office at No.--Water street. To my disappointment, I learned
that he had just taken passage for England.

I hoped to see him when he returned, but was not destined to do so until
two years later.

Before relating my unexpected meeting with him in 1881, I must describe
a certain somewhat remarkable case which I was so fortunate as to have
put into my hands shortly after my return from the country.

II.

It was one day in October that a distinguished-looking gentleman of
about fifty-five entered my office, introduced himself as Mr. Crabshaw,
and asked me to take the following case.

An old woman named Nancy Blake had recently died in Virginia, leaving a
large amount of property. This Nancy Blake had lived for over half a
century all alone, and almost entirely secluded. She had left neither
will nor near relatives, and the question was, who is her nearest of
kin? My visitor informed me that long ago he had known of the existence
of an eccentric woman in Virginia,--a great-aunt of his now deceased
wife. Nothing had been heard from her, however, for twenty-five years,
and it was supposed that she was dead; but he had just received
information that led him to believe in the identity of the old lady
Blake with the aforementioned great-aunt. If the relationship could be
established, then his daughter Cecilia would be the true heir. Her claim
had been brought to the attention of the court, and she bad been
informed that there was another claimant. Would I undertake the case?
After a long talk with Mr. Crabshaw, I deci