here at your request to learn something which you desire to tell
me. It is very late, and I should desire the interview to be as
short as possible."

"At the best it must take some time," he answered; "for we shall
certainly have to go to Norwood and see Brother Bartholomew. We
shall all go and try if we can get the better of Brother
Bartholomew. He is very angry with me for taking the course
which has seemed right to me. I had quite high words with him
last night. You cannot imagine what a terrible fellow he is when
he is angry."

"If we are to go to Norwood it would perhaps be as well to start
at once," I ventured to remark.

He laughed until his ears were quite red. "That would hardly
do," he cried. "I don't know what he would say if I brought you
in that sudden way. No, I must prepare you by showing you how we
all stand to each other. In the first place, I must tell you that
there are several points in the story of which I am myself
ignorant. I can only lay the facts before you as far as I know
them myself.

"My father was, as you may have guessed, Major John Sholto, once
of the Indian army. He retired some eleven years ago, and came
to live at Pondicherry Lodge in Upper Norwood. He had prospered
in India, and brought back with him a considerable sum of money,
a large collection of valuable curiosities, and a staff of native
servants. With these advantages he bought himself a house, and
lived in great luxury. My twin-brother Bartholomew and I were