Forty years have not gone and left no trace behind--" "Forty years!" interrupted Sir Jasper, with sneering emphasis.

"Pray do not bungle in the very beginning." "I bungle not," answered Achmet, sternly.

"Forty years ago, on the third of next month, you, Jasper Southdown Kingsland, were born beneath this very roof." "Right!" he said.

"You know my age.

But go on." "Your boyhood you passed here--quiet, eventless years--with a commonplace mother and a dull, proud father.