"He told you nothing of his family or relatives?"
"He told me that he had not a relation in the world."
"You knew him slightly, then?" Brooks continued, "all the time he was in
London? And when he left for that voyage he came to you."
"Yes."
"He made over his small income then to my mother in trust for me. Did it strike you as strange that he should do this instead of making a will?"
"Not particularly," Mr. Ascough declared. "As you know, it is not an unusual course."
"It did not suggest to you any determination on his part never to return to England?"
"Certainly not."
"He left England on friendly terms with my mother?"
"Certainly. She and he were people for whom I and every one who knew anything of their lives had the highest esteem and admiration."