About nine o’clock Hume arrived.
“You will be glad to hear,” he said, “that the rector invited me to lunch. He approves of my project, and will pray for my success. It has been a most pleasant day for me, I can assure you.”
“The rector retired to his study immediately after lunch, I presume?”
“Yes,” said David innocently. “Has anything important occurred in town?”
Brett gave him a resumé of events. A chance allusion to Sir Alan caused the young man to exclaim:
“By the way, you have never seen his photograph. He and I were very much alike, you know, and I have brought from my rooms a few pictures which may interest you.”
He handed to Brett photographs of himself and his two cousins, and of the older Sir Alan and Lady Hume-Frazer, taken singly and in groups.
The barrister examined them minutely.
“Alan and I,” pointed out his client, “were photographed during our last visit to London. Poor chap! He never saw this picture. The proofs were not sent until after his death.”
Something seemed to puzzle Brett very considerably. He compared the pictures one with the other, and paid heed to every detail.