Brett threw the scrap-book on to the table. He clasped his hands in front
of his knees, tucking his heels on the edge of his chair.

"Mr. Hume," he said slowly, gazing fixedly at the other, "I believe you.
You did not kill your cousin."




CHAPTER III

THE DREAM


"Thank you," was the quiet answer.

"You hinted at some supernatural influence in relation to this crime. What
did you mean?"

"Ah, that is the unpublished part of the affair. We are a Scots family, as
our name implies. The first Sir Alan Frazer became a baronet owing to his
services to King George during the '45 Rebellion. There was some trouble
about a sequestered estate--now our place in Scotland--which belonged to
his wife's brother, a Hume and a rebel. Anyhow, in 1763, he fought a duel
with Hume's son, his own nephew by marriage, and was killed."

"Really," broke in Brett, "this ancient history--"

"Is quite to the point. Sir Alan the first fought and died in front of the
library at Beechcroft."