"And he has two young people living with him as his wards--a girl of twenty, a boy of seventeen--who are, without doubt, John Brake's children.

It is the daughter that I want to marry." Glassdale shook his head as if in sheer perplexity.
"Well, all I can say is, you surprise me!" he remarked.

"I'd no idea of any such thing." "Do you think Brake came to Wrychester because of that ?" asked Bryce.
"How can I answer that, sir, when I tell you that I never heard him breathe one word of any children ?" exclaimed Glassdale.

"No! I know his reason for coming to Wrychester.

It was wholly and solely--as far as I know--to tell the Duke here about that jewel business, the secret of which had been entrusted to Brake and me by a man on his death-bed in Australia.