"The old chap's nothing to do, you know, and since he took up his abode here he's been spending all his time digging up local records--he's a good bit of an antiquary, and that sort of thing.

The Town Clerk tells me Kitely's been through nearly all the old town documents--chests full of them! And Kitely told me one day that if I liked he'd trace our pedigree back to I don't know when, and as he seemed keen, I told him to go ahead.

He's found out a lot of interesting things in the borough records that I never heard of." Cotherstone had kept his eyes on his plate while Bent was talking; he spoke now without looking up.
"Oh ?" he said, trying to speak unconcernedly.

"Ah!--then you'll have been seeing a good deal of Kitely lately ?" "Not so much," replied Bent.

"He's brought me the result of his work now and then--things he's copied out of old registers, and so on." "And what good might it all amount to ?" asked Cotherstone, more for the sake of talking than for any interest he felt.