"Well, he said in that first letter that the marriage took place in the parish church of St. Pierre in Martinique on the 28th of August, 1881; that he himself was born the following year, and christened in the same church under the name of Philip Arthur, and registered as the son of Mr. Arthur Collingwood de Mountford of Ford's Mount in the county of Northampton, England, and of Adeline de Mountford, née Petit, his wife." "Twenty-four years ago," said Louisa thoughtfully, "and he only claims kinship with Lord Radclyffe now?" "That's just," rejoined Luke, "where the curious part of the story comes in. This Philip de Mountford--I don't know how else to call him--said in his first letter that his mother never knew that Mr. Arthur de Mountford was anything more than a private English gentleman travelling either for profit or pleasure, but in any case not possessed of either wealth or social position. Between you and me, dear, I suppose that this Adeline Petit was just a half-caste girl, without much knowledge of what goes on in the world, and why she should have married Uncle Arthur I can't think." "If she did marry him, you mean." "If she did marry him, as you say," said Luke with a singular want of conviction, which Louisa was not slow to remark. "You think that this young man's story is true then?" "I don't know what to think, and that's the truth." "Tell me more," added Louisa simply. "Well, this Philip's story goes on to say that his father--Uncle Arthur--apparently soon tired of his exotic wife, for it seems that two years after the marriage he left Martinique and never returned to it to the day of his death." "Pardon," said Louisa in her prim little way, "my interrupting you: but have any of you--Lord Radclyffe I mean, or any of your friends--any recollection of your uncle Arthur living at Martinique for awhile? Two years seems a long time----" "As a matter of fact, Uncle Arthur was a bit of a wastrel you know. He never would study for anything. He passed into the navy--very well, too, I believe--but he threw it all up almost as soon as he got his commission, and started roaming about the world. I do know for a fact that once his people had no news of him for about three or four years, and then he turned up one fine day as if he had only been absent for a week's shooting." "When was that?"