“He has, I see, a warm advocate in you, Doctor,” said Mrs. Montgomery, again smiling.  “Still, in an affair of the heart, where so much was involved, as seemed to be in his case, we can hardly fancy such a matter-of-fact, business-like proceeding as you have described.  He might well have been forgiven, if he had shown more weakness of character, and acted even a little unreasonably.  I will yield to no one in my regard for manly firmness and self-control, for bravery and endurance; and I have seen these qualities put to some of the severest tests.  But in matters of the heart, I must own that I like to see a man show his weakness.  Your Mr. Wallingford is too cool and calculating for me.  But this is irrelevant to our consideration of his qualities as a business agent.  For this purpose, I am satisfied that he is fitted in all things essential.”

“And that is quite as far as we need go,” said I.

“The business in hand,” said Mrs. Montgomery, resuming the conversation after a pause, “is of great importance to me, and may require not only a visit to England, but also to the West Indies.  Unless evidence of my mother’s marriage can be found, there will be, as you know, considerable difficulty in establishing my full right to inherit my brother’s property.  And my identity as the sister of the late Captain Allen must also be proved.  By the will of my father, which is on record, he left all of his property to my brother.  He, as far as is known, died intestate.  As next of kin, I am the legal heir; but the proof is yet wanting.  My mother’s cousin, a Colonel Willoughby, of whom we have before spoken, came over from England, on the strength of some vague rumors that reached the family from Jamaica, and was successful in discovering the only survivor of his uncle’s family.  She saw it best to abandon her husband, as you know.  My purpose in sending an agent, versed in legal matters, and used to weighing evidence, is to have such papers of Colonel Willoughby’s as the family possess and will submit for examination, carefully searched, in the hope that some record may be found in his hand-writing, sufficiently clear to establish the fact that my mother was the wife of the elder Captain Allen.  So important an event as that of searching out my mother, and inducing her to flee from her husband, could hardly have taken place, it seems to me, without evidence of the fact being preserved.  And my hope is, that this evidence, if it can be found, will prove of great value.  So you see, Doctor, that I have good reasons for wishing to know well the agent who goes abroad with a matter so vital as this in his hands.”

I admitted the importance of a thoroughly reliable man to go upon this mission, and repeated my faith in Wallingford.

CHAPTER XIII.

I saw Mrs. Montgomery a few days afterwards, and inquired if she had seen the young associate of Judge Bigelow.  She replied in the affirmative.