"I can't quite make out the Señor de Roda," I said. "He looks as if
he had something on his mind--something he was always brooding over."
Ross took a long and appreciative drink. "He has had a rotten time
somehow," he replied; "that's quite certain. I should put him down
as a naturally healthy man who had been broken up by bad feeding and
rough living." He paused. "But I expect you're pretty well up in
the family history now?" he added drily.
"That's the weak point of your profession," I retorted. "When you
don't know you generally guess wrong. As a matter of fact I only met
Miss de Roda in the tram coming down from Oporto. There wasn't much
time for private enquiry work, even if I had felt like it."
"You didn't do so badly," returned Ross, wagging his head. "There is
nothing women like so much as a little display of primitive
brutality. It's just your luck to have had the chance. That sort of
thing never comes my way." He finished his drink and put down the
tumbler. "Aren't you going to open your wire?" he asked. "There it
is on the table."
"By Jove!" I exclaimed. "I'd forgotten all about it."
I crossed the cabin, and, slitting the flap of the little blue
envelope, pulled out the flimsy sheet of paper inside. It was headed
"London, May 26th," and underneath was the following message:
"Regret inform you your uncle, Richard Jannaway, died 17th inst.
As next of kin you inherit. Please call 117 Bedford Row as soon
as you reach England.--Wilmot and Drayton, solicitors."
For several seconds I stood there contemplating this document, in
such complete surprise that at last Ross got up a little anxiously
from where he was sitting.
"Nothing wrong, I hope?" he asked.
Without a word I handed him the slip, and he in turn read through its
contents.
"My sainted aunt!" he exclaimed. "Have you come into a fortune or
what?"
"I haven't the faintest notion," I said.
There was a short pause. Then once more he glanced through the
message which he was still holding in his hand. "Who was Mr. Richard
Jannaway?" he demanded. "And what's all the mystery about?"