'On the west coast of Devonshire, near Revelstoke, where he had long resided under the assumed name of MacIan.'
'That of his wife?'
'Precisely so—my mother.'
'And this young gentleman, whose face and features seem curiously familiar to me, though I never saw him before, he is your brother of course.'
'No, my cousin, the son of my aunt Mrs. Gyle. I am an only son, but the Major ever treated us as if he had been the father of both, so great and good was his kindness of heart.'
'Be seated, please,' said the lawyer in a breathless voice, as he seated himself in an ample leathern elbow chair at his writing-table, which was covered with documents and letters all arranged by his junior clerk in the most orderly manner.
'This is very sudden and most unexpected intelligence,' said he, carefully wiping his glasses, and subjecting Shafto's visage to a closer scrutiny again. 'Have you known all these years past the real name and position of your father, and that he left Kincardineshire more than twenty years ago after a very grave quarrel with his parents at Craigengowan?'
'No—I only learned who he was, and who we really were, when he was almost on his deathbed. He confided it to me alone, as his only son, and because I had been bred to the law; and on that melancholy occasion he entrusted me with this important packet addressed to you.'
With an expression of the deepest interest pervading his well-lined face, Mr. Kippilaw took the packet and carefully examined the seal and the superscription, penned in a shaky handwriting, with both of which he was familiar enough, though he had seen neither for fully twenty years, and finally he examined the envelope, which looked old and yellow.
'If all be true and correct, these tidings will make some stir at Craigengowan,' he muttered as if to himself, and cut round the seal with a penknife.