"Anything but satisfactory, the whole thing," replied the old lawyer. "Didn't you notice that the man avoided any direct reply? He said 'of course' about a hundred times, and was as ambiguous, and non-committal, and vague, as he could be. My dear Tertius, the fellow was fencing!" Mr. Tertius looked deeply distressed. "You don't think----" he began. "I might think a lot when I begin to think," said Mr. Halfpenny as they slowly descended the stairs from the desert solitude of the top floor of Calengrove Mansions. "But there's one thought that strikes me just now--do you remember what Burchill's old landlady at Upper Seymour Street told us?" "That Barthorpe Herapath had been to inquire for Burchill?--yes," replied Mr. Tertius. "You're wondering----" "I'm wondering if, since then, Barthorpe has found him," said Mr. Halfpenny. "If he has--if there have been passages between them--if----" He paused half-way down the stairs, stood for a moment or two in deep thought and then laid his hand on his friend's arm. "Tertius!" he said gravely. "That will must be presented for probate at once! I must lose no time. Come along--let me get back to my office and get to work. And do you go back to Portman Square and give the little woman your company." Mr. Tertius went back to Portman Square there and then, and did what he could to make the gloomy house less gloomy. Instead of retreating to his own solitude he remained with Peggie, and tried to cheer her up by discussing various plans and matters of the future. And he was taking a quiet cup of tea with her at five o'clock when Kitteridge came in with a telegram for him. He opened it with trembling fingers and read: _"Barthorpe entered caveat in Probate Registry at half-past three this afternoon.--Halfpenny."_ CHAPTER XVIII THE ROSEWOOD BOX Mr. Tertius dropped the telegram on the little table at which he and Peggie were sitting, and betrayed his feelings with a deep groan. Peggie, who was just about to give him his second cup of tea, set down her teapot and jumped to his side. "Oh, what is it!" she exclaimed. "Some bad news? Please--" Mr. Tertius pulled himself together and tried to smile. "You must forgive me, my dear," he said, with a feeble attempt to speak cheerily. "I--the truth is, I think I have lived in such a state of ease and--yes, luxury, for so many years that I am not capable of readily bearing these trials and troubles. I'm ashamed of myself--I must be braver--not so easily affected." "But--the telegram?" said Peggie. Mr. Tertius handed it to her with a dismal shake of his head. "I suppose it's only what was to be expected, after all that Halfpenny told me this afternoon," he remarked. "But I scarcely thought it would occur so soon. My dear, I am afraid you must prepare yourself for a great deal of unpleasantness and worry. Your cousin seems to be determined to give much trouble. Extraordinary!--most extraordinary! My dear, I confess I do not understand it."