“I came over early as you wished.  I suppose this is your grand-nephew—­I am glad to meet you, Mr. Adam Salton.  I am Nathaniel de Salis, and your uncle is one of my oldest friends.”

Adam, from the moment of their eyes meeting, felt as if they were already friends.  The meeting was a new note of welcome to those that had already sounded in his ears.

The cordiality with which Sir Nathaniel and Adam met, made the imparting of information easy.  Sir Nathaniel was a clever man of the world, who had travelled much, and within a certain area studied deeply.  He was a brilliant conversationalist, as was to be expected from a successful diplomatist, even under unstimulating conditions.  But he had been touched and to a certain extent fired by the younger man’s evident admiration and willingness to learn from him.  Accordingly the conversation, which began on the most friendly basis, soon warmed to an interest above proof, as the old man spoke of it next day to Richard Salton.  He knew already that his old friend wanted his grand-nephew to learn all he could of the subject in hand, and so had during his journey from the Peak put his thoughts in sequence for narration and explanation.  Accordingly, Adam had only to listen and he must learn much that he wanted to know.  When dinner was over and the servants had withdrawn, leaving the three men at their wine, Sir Nathaniel began.

“I gather from your uncle—­by the way, I suppose we had better speak of you as uncle and nephew, instead of going into exact relationship?  In fact, your uncle is so old and dear a friend, that, with your permission, I shall drop formality with you altogether and speak of you and to you as Adam, as though you were his son.”

“I should like,” answered the young man, “nothing better!”

The answer warmed the hearts of both the old men, but, with the usual avoidance of Englishmen of emotional subjects personal to themselves, they instinctively returned to the previous question.  Sir Nathaniel took the lead.

“I understand, Adam, that your uncle has posted you regarding the relationships of the Caswall family?”

“Partly, sir; but I understood that I was to hear minuter details from you—­if you would be so good.”

“I shall be delighted to tell you anything so far as my knowledge goes.  Well, the first Caswall in our immediate record is an Edgar, head of the family and owner of the estate, who came into his kingdom just about the time that George III. did.  He had one son of about twenty-four.  There was a violent quarrel between the two.  No one of this generation has any idea of the cause; but, considering the family characteristics, we may take it for granted that though it was deep and violent, it was on the surface trivial.