CHAPTER II.
CONTAINS A FEW DETAILS.
IN an old second-hand bookshop in London, an old man sat reading Gibbon's History of Rome.

He did not put down his book when the postman brought him a letter.

He just glanced indifferently at the letter, and impatiently at the postman.

Zerviah Holme did not like to be interrupted when he was reading Gibbon; and as he was always reading Gibbon, an interruption was always regarded by him as an insult.
About two hours afterwards, he opened the letter, and learnt that his niece, Bernardine, had arrived safely in Petershof, and that she intended to get better and come home strong.

He tore up the letter, and instinctively turned to the photograph on the mantelpiece.