"You have a secret?"
"I have a secret," assented the somnambulist, in the same slow manner.
"You have arranged a certain affair so that you will be able to enjoy your present fortune during your next incarnation?"
"Yes."
"You think you have arranged everything necessary to carry out this idea?"
"I think so."
"State to yourself the whole scheme so that you can see you have forgotten nothing."
Garsworth remained silent for a moment, then began to talk rapidly.
"I have arranged everything in a proper manner. I am sure I have forgotten nothing. My will has been made some years, and in it I have left all my property to my natural son. Such natural son does not exist--at present he is a fictitious person. When I am re-incarnated he will become a reality. I will be my own natural son, and the property will pass to myself in the new body by the action of my will in this present body. It will be necessary for me in my new form to prove myself the person mentioned in the will. I do this in such new body by producing a certain paper and my seal ring, which I have safely hidden away. Retaining my memory during my next incarnation I go to the hiding-place, find the paper and the ring, produce them to the lawyer who holds my will, and having proved my identity as natural son, can become possessed of the property. Yes, everything is all right."
He ceased speaking and Beaumont, having listened attentively, was much struck with the ingenuity of the idea expressed in the delusion. This, then, was the way in which he hoped to carry out his scheme. Was ever madman so whimsical? The artist did not see much chance of benefiting by the discovery so far, still if he saw the papers mentioned by the squire, there might be something in them which would prove useful. Yes; he would get the squire to show him the hiding-place of the papers.