“Hello! This is something new,” exclaimed Lord Seabright. “This proof goes away ahead of the other chap’s. We must look into this matter more closely.” CHAPTER XXVI. PROUD OF BEING A YANKEE. To explain the curious state of affairs disclosed in the last chapter, it is necessary to go a long way back in our story, and recall the New York jeweller who had shown Breeze that his locket could be opened, and had then tried to obtain it from him. This man had seen the advertisement asking for any information concerning Mr. Tristram Tresmont, or his son, and it had made such an impression upon him that he had studied it carefully. He had even looked up the Tresmont coat of arms in a book on heraldry, that contained colored plates of such things. When Breeze brought the golden ball to him he was at first interested in it as a puzzle, and then startled at the sight of its contents. He hastily compared its coat of arms with the one in his book, and noted the little compass that it contained. So hurried was his examination, however, that he did not discover the second spring, and consequently knew nothing of the locks of hair or the inscription. It had flashed across the mind of this bad man that if he could obtain possession of the ball, he might receive a reward for it, or perhaps use it in making a claim upon the Tresmont estate; for it had been mentioned in the advertisement as one of the proofs by which the missing child might be known. He did not tell Breeze of what he had discovered, for he hoped to make more out of his information in another way. Failing to buy the trinket, he had tried to have it left with him at least overnight, that he might study it more carefully; but this plan was spoiled by the lad’s prompt action and the interference of the police. Then the jeweller procured a second labyrinth ball, and aided by the book on heraldry, fitted its interior with enamelled plates of thin gold bearing the Tresmont coat of arms. While doing this he planned a bold scheme, which he thought might be safely carried out, for obtaining at least a share of the Tresmont property. This was nothing more nor less than the taking of his own boy, who was about the same age as Breeze, to England, and by means of the false locket persuading people to believe him to be the son of Mr. Tristram Tresmont. Having carefully worked out every detail of this wicked plan, the jeweller finally appeared with his son, whom he had trained to be as bad as himself, before the Tresmont family lawyer, and claimed to have discovered the true heir to Sir Wolfe’s property.