'Why,' said the squire, starting from his seat, 'don't you remember that morning?'—
'Perfectly,' interrupted the stranger,—'when you addressed me as Mr. Jobson.'
'Well, you never contradicted me.'
'A man hasn't lived to grey hairs,' said the stranger, with a smile, pointing to the changing colour of his own, 'without knowing the worth of a name, as you observed just now; and as you were satisfied with Jobson, it quite contented me.'
'But how did Biddy get hold of it?'
'Like many others, Biddy is satisfied with slight evidence; she saw "Matthew Jobson" on the brass plate of a portmanteau which by an accident I had exchanged for my own in travelling, and she settled the matter at once without question.'
Mr. Brimble, holding the miniature in his hand, looked alternately at it and the stranger, while Dr. Cruden asked, 'Will you favour us with your true name?'
The stranger looked at the squire and replied, 'I think my uncle knows it—Eustace De la Mark.'
'I did know it,' said the squire, almost breathless; 'I did know it—I was sure of it; even while I called him Jobson I felt drawn to him. My dear boy, what right have you with grey hairs?' he said, affectionately grasping both his hands; 'and why have you served us in this way?'
'I have a very long story to tell,' said Eustace—no longer 'the stranger'—after the first agitation had passed; 'but it is of the utmost importance, remember, that I should not be known to any but yourselves for the present. My intention was to remain altogether concealed for some time yet; but I could not withstand it,' he said, again grasping his uncle's hand.