AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY 371 if your father is deceased. May I ask, to begin with, how it is that the advertisement has for so many years remained unanswered ?

“ That is easily accounted for, sir. My father, being unable to obtain a situation in England, accepted a very minor appointment in the house of Messrs. Partridge & Co. at Alexandria. This he obtained owing to his knowledge of Arabic. He had been engaged, as you doubtless know, for two years in explorations there. He did not wish it to be known that he had been obliged to accept such a position, so he dropped his surname and went out as Gregory Hilliard. As the firm’s establishment at Alexandria was burned during the insurrection there, he went to Cairo and obtained an appointment as interpreter to General Hicks. He escaped when the army of that officer was destroyed at El Obeid, was a prisoner for many months at that town, and then escaped to Khartoum. He came down in the steamer with Colonel Stewart. That steamer was wrecked at Hebbeh, and all on board, with one exception, were massacred. My mother always retained some hope that he might have escaped, from his knowledge of Arabic. She received a small pension from the Egyptian government for the loss of my father, and added to this by teaching in the families of several Turkish functionaries. Three years ago she died, and I obtained, through the kindness of Lord Kitchener, an appointment as interpreter in the Egyptian army. I was present at the fights of Abu Hamed, the Atbara, Omdurman, and the late victory by Colonel Wingate. My name, as Gregory Hilliard, was mentioned in despatches, and will be mentioned again in that sent by Colonel Wingate, but this time with the addition of Hartley. It was only accidentally, on the night after that battle, that I learned that my father was the heir to the Marquis of Langdale, and I thereupon obtained six months’ leave to come here.”

“ It is a singular story,” the lawyer said, and if supported by proofs there can be no question that you are the Marquis, for whom we have been advertising for many years.”