"Yes."
"I once knew a girl--long ago, in my younger days--who married a man called Agar, and went to live in Hertfordshire. The name did not strike me until you mentioned the county. I wonder if the lady is now your step-mother."
"My step-mother's name was Hethbridge," replied Jem Agar.
"The same. How strange!" said the General indifferently. "Well, she has probably forgotten my existence these thirty years. She has one son, you say?"
"Yes, Arthur. He is twenty-three--five years younger than myself."
The shifty black eyes excelled themselves at this moment in rapidity of observation. They seemed to be full of question, of many questions, but none were forthcoming.
"Ah!" said General Michael indifferently. "He is," pursued Jem Agar, "a delicate fellow; does nothing; though I believe h
