'I fear I am intruding,' he said, as Mrs. Gregory, who looked curiously shaken, turned to greet him. 'Just like me. Lady Elton said to me, "Much better wait;" but we are such intimate friends; besides--why, Mrs. Gregory, my good old friend, you have borne so much bad fortune with resolution, you are surely not going to break down when good fortune comes knocking at your door? She's a jade we don't generally find it difficult to welcome. Tom, my boy, I congratulate you. No more building now--eh! You'll be giving orders instead of taking them--a very different sort of business. You look surprised--only just know yourselves? Well, curiously enough, it got wind at the club--how, heaven only knows. I believe that rumours have wings. I was interested, of course, having known all the family so well, and I called in at Mr. Cherry's on my way home to ask him if there was any foundation for the rumour.' 'And he told you it was true?' said Mrs. Gregory. 'Yes, he was civil enough to answer my questions. The rajah's will, he says, will be public property to-morrow, so it is no breach of confidence.' As he spoke he had settled himself in an armchair and put his cane and wide-brimmed straw hat on the floor beside him. 'Now, really,' he said, looking from mother to son, 'you are the very funniest people I ever met. I expected to find my young friend Tom dancing a war-dance. Why, young man, do you know what it means to be rich?' 'I think I do, General.' 'Oh! do you? Then all I can say is, wait till you see. It means a good many things, my boy, that you can't so much as guess at. But come, Mrs. Gregory, you can't feel it so much! How many years is it since you met your cousin, the rajah?' 'I am really afraid to think,' said Mrs. Gregory, rousing herself with an effort. 'Still, a death is a death, and it was so unexpected.' 'You were in correspondence with the rajah?' 'Oh no! And that's what makes it so strange. I might have thought--expected----' 'Just so. You might have expected to be remembered.' 'I don't know why,' said the poor woman, with a wan smile. 'But, of course, there was the relationship. Very distant, as you know. My poor father and the late rajah of Gumilcund's father were only half-brothers. If it hadn't been for the infatuation of my grandfather, Sir Anthony--but I am giving you ancient history----' 'On the contrary, you are interesting me very much. Sir Anthony was always staunch to his Indian connections.' 'Yes; I wondered myself that he married a second time.'