"Well, what came of his action?" "Nothing--so far. I believe he has ceased to take any interest in it. Another line of action altogether was suggested to him. About three months ago he made an attempt to kidnap the child, and was foiled. He got word that she had been taken to Charlestown, and he went there with a couple of private detectives. But Mrs. Barnes was on the alert, and when he discovered the villa in which the child had been living, she had been removed. It was a bitter shock and disappointment, and when he got back to New York in November, in the middle of an epidemic, he was struck down by influenza and pneumonia. It went pretty hard with him. You will be shocked by his appearance. Ecco! was there ever such a story! Do you remember, Penrose, what a magnificent creature he was that year he played for Oxford, and you and I watched his innings from the pavilion?" There was a note of emotion in the tone which implied much. Penrose assented heartily, remarking, however, that it was a magnificence which seemed to have cost him dear, if, as no doubt was the case, it had won him his wife. "But now, with regard to money; you say he wants money. But surely, at the time of the marriage, something was settled on him?" "Certainly, a good deal. But from the moment she left him, and the Heston bills were paid, he has never touched a farthing of it, and never will." "So that the General's death was opportune? Well, it's a deplorable affair! And I wish I saw any chance of being of use." French looked up anxiously. "Because you know," the speaker reluctantly continued, "there's nothing to be done. The thing's finished." "Finished?" French's manner took fire. "And the law can do _nothing_! Society can do _nothing_, to help that man either to right himself, or to recover his child? Ah!"--he paused to listen--"here he is!" A cab had drawn up outside. Through the lightly curtained windows the two within saw a man descend from it, pay the driver, and walk up the flagged passage leading to the front door. French hurried to greet the new-comer. "Come in, Roger! Here's George Penrose--as I promised you. Sit down, old man. They'll bring us some tea presently." Roger Barnes looked round him for a moment without replying; then murmured something unintelligible, as he shook hands with Penrose, and took the chair which French pushed forward. French stood beside him with a furrowed brow. "Well, here we are, Roger!--and if there's anything whatever in this horrible affair where an English lawyer can help you, Penrose is your man. You know, I expect, what a swell he is? A K. C. after seven years--lucky dog!--and last year he was engaged in an Anglo-American case not wholly unlike yours--Brown _v._ Brown. So I thought of him as the best person among your old friends and mine to come and give us some private informal help to-day, before you take any fresh steps--if you do take any."