“He is evidently a gentleman—­a man of refinement and delicate feeling.  I am kindly disposed to him already.  There is something chivalric and what is called ‘old-fashioned’ in his expressions.  No young man writes like this nowadays.”

The letter, which both read many times, revealed the traits that Sir Walter declared.  It was written with Latin courtesy and distinction.  There were also touches of humor in it, which neither he nor Mary perceived: 

“Claridge’s Hotel, London.  April 9.

“Dear Sir Walter Lennox,—­In common with the rest of the world that knows England, I have recently been profoundly interested and moved at the amazing events reported as happening at Chadlands, in the County of Devon, under your roof.  The circumstances were related in Italian journals with no great detail, but I read them in the ‘Times’ newspaper, being familiar with your language and a great lover of your country.

“I had already conceived the idea of communicating with you when—­so small is the world in this our time—­accident actually threw me into the society of one of your personal friends.  At an entertainment given by the British Ambassador at Rome, a young soldier, one Colonel Vane, was able to do me some service in a crush of people, and I enjoyed the privilege of his acquaintance as the result.  I would not have inflicted myself upon another generation, but he took an interest in conversing with one who knew his own language.  He was also intelligent—­for a military man.  Needless to say, he made no allusion to the tragedy at Chadlands, but when he spoke of espionage in war and kindred matters, I found him familiar with the details concerning the death of the great English detective, Peter Hardcastle.  I then asked him, as being myself deeply interested in the matter, whether it would be possible to get further and fuller details of the story of ‘the Grey Room,’ whereupon he told me, to my amazement, that he had been at Chadlands when your lamented son-in-law, Captain Thomas May, passed out of life.  I then recollected Colonel Vane’s name, among others mentioned in the ‘Times,’ as at Chadlands when the disaster occurred.

“Finding that my curiosity was not idle, Colonel Vane accepted an invitation to dinner, and I enjoyed the pleasure of entertaining him and learning many personal and intimate particulars of the event.  These were imparted in confidence, and he knew that I should not abuse his trust.  Indeed, I had already told him that it was my determination to communicate with you upon the strength of his narrative.

“It seems improbable that anything I can say will bear upon the case, and I may presently find that I lack the means to serve you, or throw light where all is so profoundly buried in darkness.  Yet I am not sure.  Small things will often lead to greater, and though the past is unhappily beyond recall, since our Maker Himself cannot