"Mr. Shap had brought over with him all the correspondence relating to this promise, and, moreover, he adduced as proof positive that Sir Alfred had looked on that promise as binding, and had at first loyally abided by it, the fact that until 1916 he had paid to Mr. Felix Shap the sum of £200 every year. These sums had been paid half-yearly through Sir Alfred's bankers, and acknowledgments were duly sent by Shap direct to the bank, all of which could of course be easily verified. But in the year 1916 these payments suddenly ceased. Mr. Shap wrote repeatedly to Sir Alfred, but never received any reply. At first he thought that there were certain difficulties in the way owing to the European War, so after a while he ceased writing. But presently there came the Armistice. Mr. Shap wrote again and again, but was again met by the same obstinate silence. "In the meanwhile he had come to the end of his resources; he had spent all that he had ever saved, but, nevertheless, he was determined that as soon as he could scrape up a sufficiency of money he would go to England in order to establish his rights. Then in 1922 he heard of Sir Alfred Carysfort's death. It was now or never if he did not mean to acquiesce silently in the terrible wrong which was being put upon him. Fortunately he had a good friend in Mr. Julian Lloyd, who had helped him with money and advice, and at last he had arrived in England. It was for Mr. Stonebridge to say whether the papers and correspondence which he had brought with him were sufficient to establish his claim in law. Mr. Medburn remembered Mr. Stonebridge telling him all about these matters and emphasising the fact that Felix Shap had undoubtedly a very strong case and that he could not understand a man of the position of Sir Alfred Carysfort thus wilfully repudiating his own signature. "'There is not only the original letter,' Mr. Stonebridge had concluded, 'making a definite promise to pay certain sums out of his own pocket if the profits of the company exceeded ten thousand pounds in any one year, but there are all the covering letters from Sir Alfred's bankers whenever they sent cheques on his behalf to Shap--usually twice a year for sums that varied between one hundred and one hundred and fifty pounds. I cannot understand it!' he had reiterated more than once, and Mr. Medburn, who also had a great deal of respect for the Carysforts, who were among the wealthiest people in the county, was equally at a loss to understand the position.