I am unable to sympathise in what I look upon as an unprofitable quest.

That is the whole story." "Why cannot you back him up, Mr Armstrong ?" "I believe his fancy is utterly groundless; besides which, if the person he believes to be the missing brother is really Roger Ingleton, to discover him would mean disgrace to Maxfield, and an injury to the name of Ingleton." "What! Mr Armstrong, do you mean to say--" "I mean to say that Mr Robert Ratman claims to be the lost elder brother, and that Roger credits the story.

Miss Oliphant, I am grateful to you for sharing this confidence with me.

You can help Roger in this matter better than I can." She looked at him with a flush in her face, and then replied rather dismally, "I fear not--for, to be as frank with you as you are with me, I am dreadfully afraid Roger is right.

The same fancy passed through my mind when first I saw Mr Ratman.