s head sagaciously; "I'm sorry to hear that. Poor Henry!"
"Poor old boy!" was all I could think of replying. "How about the
children?" Scudamour asked. "Oh, the children," I said, with what I
thought presence of mind, "are coming to England." "To stay with
Alexander?" he asked. My answer was that Alexander was expecting them
by the middle of next month; and eventually Scudamour went away
muttering, "Poor Henry!" In a month or so we met again. "No word of
Henry's getting leave of absence?" asked Scudamour. I replied shortly
that Henry had gone to live in Bombay, and would not be home for years.
He saw that I was brusk, so what does he do but draw me aside for a
quiet explanation. "I suppose," he said, "you are annoyed because I
told Pettigrew that Henry's wife had run away from him. The fact is, I
did it for your good. You see, I happened to make a remark to
Pettigrew about your brother Henry, and he said that there was no such
person. Of course I laughed at that, and pointed out not only that I
had the pleasure of Henry's acquaintance, but that you and I had talked
about the old fellow every time we met. 'Well,' Pettigrew said, 'this
is a most remarkable thing; for he,' meaning you, 'said to me in this
very room, sitting in that very chair, that Alexander was his only
brother.' I saw that Pettigrew resented your concealing the existence
of your brother Henry from him, so I thought the most friendly thing I
could do was to tell him that your reticence was doubtless due to the
unhappy state of poor Henry's private affairs. Naturally in the
circumstances you did not want to talk about Henry." I shook Scudamour
by the hand, telling him that he had acted judiciously; but if I could
have stabbed him in the back at that moment I dare say I would have
done it.

I did not see Scudamour again for a long time, for I took care to keep
out of his way; but I heard first from him and then of him. One day he
wrote to me saying that his nephew was going to Bombay, and would I be
so good as to give the youth an introduction to my brother Henry? He
also asked me to dine with him and his nephew. I declined the dinner,
but I sent the nephew the required note of introduction to Henry. The
next I heard of Scudamour was from Pettigrew. "By the way," said
Pettigrew, "Scudamour is in Edinburgh at present." I trembled, for
Edinburgh is where Alexander lives. "What has taken him there?" I
asked, with assumed carelessness. P