ls of my memory never really to come out again."

"And yet when--when we were first engaged," rejoined Louisa quietly,
"you never told me anything about it."

"I'll tell you directly how that was. I remembered and then forgot--if
you know what I mean--and now it has all come back. At the time I
thought the letter of this man who called himself Philip de Mountford
nothing but humbug. So did Mr. Warren, and yet he and I talked it over
and discussed it between us for ever so long. It all sounded so
strange. Uncle Arthur--so this man said who called himself Philip de
Mountford--had married in Martinique a half-caste girl named Adeline
Petit, who was this same Philip's mother. He declares that he has all
the papers--marriage certificates or whatever they are called--to
prove every word he says. He did not want to trouble his uncle much,
only now that his mother was dead, he felt all alone in the world and
longed for the companionship and affection of his own kith and kin.
All he wanted he said, was friendship. Then he went on to say that of
course he did not expect his lordship to take his word for all this,
he only asked for an opportunity to show his dear uncle all the papers
and other proofs which he held that he was in real and sober truth the
only legitimate son of Mr. Arthur de Mountford, own brother to his
lordship."

"How old is this man--this Philip de Mountford--supposed to be?"

"Well, he said in that first letter that the marriage took place in
the parish church of St. Pierre in Martinique on the 28th of August,
1881; that he himself was born the following year, and christened in
the same church under the name of Philip Arthur, and registered as
the son of Mr. Arthur Collingwood de Mountford of Ford's Mount in the
county of Northampton, England, and of Adeline de Mountford, nee
Petit, his wife."

"Twenty-four years ago," said Louisa thoughtfully, "and he only claims
kinship with Lord Radclyffe now?"

"That's just," rejoined Luke, "where the curious part of the story
comes in. This Philip de Mountford--I don't know how else to call
him--said in his first letter that his mother never knew that Mr.
Arthur de Mountford was anything more than a private English gentleman
travelling either for profit or pleasure, but in any case not
possessed of either wealth or social position. Between you and me,
dear, I suppose that this Adeline Petit was just a half-caste girl,
without much knowledge of what goes on in the wo