' I will go with you, master, if you will take me. I hope never to leave you till I die.'
'Very well, Zaki, I am more than willing to take you. If I remain in England you shall always be with me, if you choose to remain. But I shall then be able to give you a sum that will enable you to buy much land and to hire men to work your sakies, to till your land, and to make you what you would call a rich man here, should you wish to return at the end of the six months. If I return, you will, of course, come back with me.'
On the following day, after having said good-bye to all his friends, disposed of his horse and belongings, and drawn the arrears of his pay, Gregory took his place in the train, for the railway had now been carried to Khartoum.
Four days later he arrived at Cairo. His first step was to order European clothes for Zaki, and a warm and heavily-lined greatcoat, for it was now the first week in December, and although delightful at Cairo, it would be to the native bitterly cold in England. Then he went to the bank, and Mr. Murray, on hearing the story, made an affidavit at the British resident's affirming that he had for fifteen years known Mrs. Gregory Hilliard, and was aware that she was the widow of Mr. Gregory Hilliard, who joined Hicks Pasha; and that Mr. Gregory Hilliard, now claiming to be Mr. Gregory Hilliard Hartley, was her son. Mr. Gregory Hilliard senior had kept an account at the bank for eighteen months, and had, on leaving, given instructions for Mrs. Hilliard's cheques to be honoured. Mrs. Hilliard had received a pension from the Egyptian government up to the date of her death as his widow, he having fallen in the service of the Khedive. Gregory looked up his old nurse, whom he found comfortable and happy. She also made an affidavit to the effect that she had entered the service of Mrs. Hilliard more than eighteen years before as nurse to Gregory Hilliard, then a child of a year old. She had been in her service until her death, and she could testify that Gregory Hilliard Hartley was the child she had nursed.
After a stay of four days at Cairo, Gregory started for England. Even he, who had heard of London from his mother, was astonished at its noise, extent, and bustle, while Zaki was almost stupefied. He took two rooms at Cannon Street Hotel for himself and servant, and next morning went to the offices of Messrs. Tufton & Sons, the solicitors. He sent in his name as Mr. Gregory Hilliard Hartley. Even in the outer office he heard an exclamation of surprise as the piece of paper on which he had written his name was read. He was at once shown in. Mr. Tufton looked at him with a little surprise.
' I am the son of the gentleman for whom, I understand, you have advertised for a long time.'
'If you can prove that you are so, sir,' Mr. Tufton said wearily, 'you are the Marquis of Langdale—that is to say, if your father is deceased. May I ask, to begin with, how it is that the advertisement has for so many years remained unanswered ?'
'That is easily accounted for, sir. My father, being unable to obtain a situation in England, accepted a very minor appointment in the house of Messrs. Partridge & Co. at Alexandria. This he obtained owing to his knowledge of Arabic. He had been engaged, as you doubtless know, for two years in explorations there. He did not wish it to be known that he had been obliged to accept such a position, so he dropped his surname and went out as Gregory Hilliard. As the firm's establishment at Alexandria was burned during the insurrection there, he went to Cairo and obtained an appointment as interpreter to General Hicks. He escaped when the army of that officer was destroyed at El Obeid, was a prisoner for many months at that town, and then escaped to Khartoum. He came down in the steamer with Colonel Stewart. That steamer was wrecked at Hebbeh, and all on board, with one exception, were massacred. My mother always retained some hope that he might have escaped, from his knowledge of Arabic. She received a small pension from the Egyptian government for the loss of my father, and added to this by teaching in the families of several Turkish functionaries. Three years ago she died, and I obtained, through the kindness of Lord Kitchener, an appointment as interpreter in the Egyptian army. I was present at the fights of Abu Hamed, the Atbara, Omdurman, and the late victory by Colonel Wingate. My name, as Gregory Hilliard, was mentioned in dispatches, and will be mentioned again in that sent by Colonel Wingate, but this time with the addition of Hartley. It was only accidentally, on the night after that battle, that I learned that my father was the heir to the Marquis of Langdale, and I thereupon obtained six months' leave to come here.'
'It is a singular story,' the lawyer said, 'and if supported by proofs there can be no question that you are the Marquis for whom we have been advertising for many years.'
' I think that I have ample proof, sir. Here is the certificate of my father's marriage, and the copies of the registers of my birth and baptism. Here is the journal of my father from the time he was taken prisoner till his death; here are his letter to my mother, and letters to his father, brother, and sisters, which were to be forwarded by her should she choose to return to England. Here are two affidavits—the one from a gentleman who has known me from childhood, the other from the woman who nursed me, and who remained with our family till I reached the Soudan. Here also is a letter that I found among my mother's papers, written from Khartoum, in which my father speaks of resuming the name of Hartley if things went well there.'
' Then, sir,' Mr. Tufton said, ' I think I can congratulate you upon obtaining the title; but at the same time I will ask you to leave these papers with me for an hour. I will put everything else aside and go through them. You understand I am not doubting your word, but of course it is necessary to ascertain the exact purport of these letters and documents. If they are as you say, the evidence in favour of your claim would be overwhelming. Of course it is necessary that we should be most cautious. We have for upwards of a hundred years been solicitors to the family, and as such have contested all applications from the junior branch of the family that the title should be declared vacant by the death of the last Marquis, who would be your uncle. We have been the more anxious to do so, as we understand the next claimant is a young man of extravagant habits and in no way worthy to succeed to the title.'
'I will return in an hour and a half, sir,' Gregory said, rising. 'I may say that the contents of this pocket-book, although intensely interesting to myself as a record of my father, do not bear upon the title. They are a simple record of his life from the time when the army of Hicks Pasha was destroyed to the date of his own murder at Hebbeh. The last entry was made before he landed. I mention this as it may save you time in going through the papers.'
Gregory went out and spent the time in watching the wonderful flow of traffic and gazing into the shops, and when he returned to the office he was at once shown in. Mr. Tufton rose and shook him warmly by the hand.
' I consider these documents to be absolutely conclusive, my lord,' he said. 'The letters to your grandfather, uncle, and aunts are conclusive as to his identity, and that of your mother, strengthened by the two affidavits, is equally conclusive as to your being his son. I will take the necessary measures to lay these papers before the court, which has several times had the matter in hand, and to obtain a declaration that you have indisputably proved yourself to be the son of the late Gregory Hilliard Hartley, and therefore entitled to the title and estates, with all accumulations, of the Marquis of Langdale.'
' Thank you very much, sir! I will leave the matter entirely in your hands. Can you tell me the address of my aunts I As you will have seen by my father's letter, he believed implicitly in their affection for him.'
' Their address is, The Manor House, Wimperton, Tavistock, Devon. They retired there at the accession of their brother to the title. It has been used as a dower house in the family for many years, and pending the search for your father, I obtained permission for them to continue to reside there. I was not obliged to ask for an allowance for them, as they had an income under their mother's marriage-settlement sufficient for them to live there in comfort. I will not give you the letter addressed to them, as I wish to show the original in court; but I will have a copy made for you at once, and I will attest it. Now may I ask how you are situated with regard to money? I have sufficient confidence in the justice of your claim to advance any sum for your immediate wants.'
'Thank you, sir! I am in no need of any advance. My mother's savings amounted to five hundred pounds, of which I only drew fifty to buy my outfit when I went up to the Soudan. My pay sufficed for my wants there, and I drew out the remaining four hundred and fifty pounds when I left Cairo, so I am amply provided.'
Gregory remained four days in London, obtaining suitable clothes; then, attended by Zaki, he took his place in the Great Western for Tavistock. Zaki had already picked up a good deal of English, and Gregory talked to him only in that language on their way down from the battle-field, so that he could now express himself in simple phrases. Mr. Tufton had on the previous day written, at Gregory's request, to his aunts, saying that the son of their brother had called upon him and given him proofs, which he considered incontestable, of his identity and of the death of his father. He was the bearer of a letter from his father to them, and proposed delivering it the next day in person. He agreed with Gregory that it was advisable to send down this letter, as otherwise the ladies might doubt whether he was really what he claimed to be, as his father's letter might very well have come into the hands of a third person.
He went down by the night-mail to Tavistock, put up at an hotel, and after breakfast drove over to the Manor
