"Is the case at all similar?"

"Hardly. It is the case of a will concealed, or rather suppressed, and acting upon a will previously made. I cannot go into details for obvious reasons, as I wish to keep our enemy in the dark."

"I understand. Have you your card with you, so that I can call at your office?"

This was a puzzling question for Bolton, but he was equal to the occasion.

"Tell me what hotel you propose to stop at, and I will call upon you at eleven o'clock to-morrow morning."

"I don't know much about the New York hotels."

"Then let me recommend a house," naming a comfortable but not expensive hostelry on upper Broadway.

"I will go there."

"I think you have not yet mentioned your name."

"My name is Ephraim Paulding."