But it is perfectly possible to be a Christian and a gentleman. To
imply that our faith was weak because we expressed ordinary human
emotions and pitied him unfeignedly for the loss of his only child--"

"Good-bye, good-bye, my dear friends," answered the other. "I
cannot say how I esteem your kindly offices in this affliction.
May we meet again presently. God bless and keep you both."

The post-mortem examination revealed no physical reason why Thomas
May should have ceased to breathe. Neither did the subsequent
investigations of a Government analytical chemist throw any light
upon the sailor's sudden death. No cause existed, and therefore
none could be reported at the inquest held a day later.

The coroner's jury brought in a verdict rarely heard, but none
dissented from it. They held that May had received his death "by
the hand of God."

"All men receive death from the hand of God," said Septimus May,
when the judicial inquiry was ended. "They receive life from the
hand of God also. But, while bowing to that, there is a great
deal more we are called to do when God's hand falls as it has fallen
upon my son. To-night I shall pray beside his dust, and presently,
when he is at peace, I shall be guided. There is a grave duty
beside me, Sir Walter, and none must come between me and that duty."

"There is a duty before all of us, and be sure nobody will shrink
from it. I have done what is right, so far. We have secured a
famous detective--the most famous in England, they tell me. He
is called Peter Hardcastle, and he will, I hope, be able to arrive