Except that this Falkiner Wraye had been, as Brake said, a Barthorpe man, years ago.

He'd left the town eighteen years since, and nobody knew anything about him.

So I came home.

And now then, doctor--your turn! What were you after, down there at Barthorpe ?" Bryce meditated his answer for a good five minutes.

He had always intended to play the game off his own bat, but he had heard and seen enough since entering Harker's little room to know that he was in company with an intellect which was keener and more subtle than his, and that it would be all to his advantage to go in with the man who had vast and deep experience.