"I should like nothing better, grandfather.

By jove, you are good to me.

You--" "It is only right and just that I should give to the last of my race the chance to be a credit to it." There was something cryptic in the remark, but naturally it escaped Braden's notice.

"You are the only one of the Thorpes left, my boy.

I was an only son and, strange as it may appear, I was singularly without avuncular relatives.