“Whom did she marry?”
“A man by the name of Charles Bradford. They went to America soon after their marriage and settled in California,” Mrs. Alexander replied, wondering why the lawyer should question her thus regarding her family.
“Did your grandmother have any brothers or sisters?”
“I believe there was a brother—Albert by name—for I have heard my mother, who was called Alberta, say that she was named for an uncle; but I never knew anything of him, as he lived in England, and, after my grandmother’s death, all communication between the families ceased. It was a whim of hers to call me Virginia Norton, for she said she did not wish the family name to die out entirely.”
Mr. Thurston changed color and began to look excited. He drew a set of tablets from his pocket, and, opening them, examined several entries therein.
“Mrs. Alexander,” he said at last, “I believe you have at last unwittingly solved a riddle that has been a very complicated one to me and my partner for the last two years, and which we had almost despaired of ever solving.”
“How can that be?” she asked, greatly surprised.
“Listen, and I will tell you,” said the lawyer. “There is living in Cheshire County, England, a man by the name of Lord Albert Norton——”
“Oh, I do not think there was ever any title in our family,” Mrs. Alexander interrupted, smiling. “I am sure they were people in moderate circumstances, as my grandfather went to America to try to improve his condition in life.”
“Lord Albert Norton was a comparatively poor man himself until he was over fifty years of age,” Mr. Thurston went on, composedly, “when he published some literary works of great merit. He began about that time to interest himself in political affairs, and was created a peer of the realm in 1840. He has been a very eccentric man, has never married, but devoted himself almost wholly to literature and politics. He has amassed wealth rapidly during the later years of his life, for, having no one but himself on whom to expend it, his income has accumulated. He seldom went into society and rarely entertained in his own home. He is now about ninety years of age, and although very feeble in body, his mind appears to be as vigorous as ever.