“Mr. Hume,” he said slowly, gazing fixedly at the other, “I believe you. You did not kill your cousin.”
[Chapter III]
The Dream
“Thank you,” was the quiet answer.
“You hinted at some supernatural influence in relation to this crime. What did you mean?”
“Ah, that is the unpublished part of the affair. We are a Scots family, as our name implies. The first Sir Alan Frazer became a baronet owing to his services to King George during the ’45 Rebellion. There was some trouble about a sequestered estate—now our place in Scotland—which belonged to his wife’s brother, a Hume and a rebel. Anyhow, in 1763, he fought a duel with Hume’s son, his own nephew by marriage, and was killed.”
“Really,” broke in Brett, “this ancient history—”
“Is quite to the point. Sir Alan the first fought and died in front of the library at Beechcroft.”
The barrister commenced to study the moulding in the centre of the ceiling.