"Curious that I should have run against you here, when this very moment I am on my way to hunt you up," said Knox, trying first the chair, and then the sofa. "I landed twenty-four hours ago in New York; been off on a long yachting excursion; started immediately after your brother's death,--perhaps Miss Abercrombie told you? Whole thing entirely unexpected; had to decide in ten minutes, and go on board in an hour, or lose the chance; big salary, expenses paid; couldn't afford to lose it. I'd have written before starting, if it had been possible; but it wasn't. And after I was once off, my eyes gave way suddenly, and I had to give them a rest. It wasn't a thing to write, anyway; it was a thing to _tell_. There was nothing to be done in any case, and such kind of news will keep; so I decided that as soon as I landed, I'd come down here and find out about you and Miss Abercrombie; then I was going up to Port aux Pins--or wherever you were--to see you." "I suppose you can tell me--in three words--what all this is about," said Paul, who had not seated himself. "Yes, easy. What do you suppose was the cause of your brother's death?" "Pistol-shot," Paul answered, curtly. "No, that was over, I had cured him of that; I telegraphed you that the wound wasn't dangerous, and it wasn't. No, sir; he died of a spree--of a series of 'em." Paul sat down. "I say, have some brandy? No? Well, then I'll go on, and get it over. But don't you go to thinking that I'm down on Ferdie; I'm not, I just loved that fellow; I don't know when I've seen anybody that took me so. I was called to him, you know, after those negroes shot him. 'Twasn't in itself a vital wound; only a tedious one; the difficulty was fever, but after a while we subdued that. Of course I saw what was behind,--he had had an attack of something like delirium tremens; it was that which complicated matters. Well, I went over there every day, sometimes twice a day; I took the biggest sort of interest in the case, and, besides, we got to be first-rate chums. I set about doing everything I could for him, not only in the regular line of business, but also morally, as one may call it; as a friend. You see, I wanted to open his eyes to the danger he was in; he hadn't the least conception of it. He thought that it was only a question of will, and that his will was particularly strong;--_that_ sort of talk. Well, after rather a slow job of it, I pronounced him cured--as far as the wound was concerned; all he needed was rest. Did he take it? By George, sir, he didn't! He slipped off to Savannah, not letting me know a gleam of it, and there he was joined by--I don't know whether you have heard that there was a woman in the case?" Paul nodded.