But Mr. Montague Jones had preceded him, and he heard himself announced.
"Mr. Fortescue from the Insurance Office is here, my lord."
"Come in, Mr. Fortescue. I want to hear the result of your investigation. I want to know—"
What did Lord Derwentwater want to know? He seemed to have forgotten. He was looking at the representative of the insurance company with a strangely puzzled gaze. Only for a moment, though. In the next, he recovered himself, and began to give an account of the recent fire, and of the damage done by it, and his reasons for demanding so large compensation from the company.
Kenneth Fortescue looked intently at the Earl as he spoke. He wondered, as he did so, if he was looking at his own likeness, not of to-day, but of a quarter of a century hence. The features bore the strongest resemblance, but the hair was white, and the figure far less upright.
As the Earl spoke on, standing with his back to the fireplace, Kenneth stood facing him, apparently listening to his words, and yet in reality hearing nothing of what he was saying. He was looking for something—looking intently and eagerly. Why did the Earl keep his hands behind him? Why did he stand in that position all the time he spoke? How could Kenneth ever discover that which he so much wanted to know?
But at that moment there came bounding into the room a beautiful collie dog, white as snow and with long, silky hair. It ran to the Earl, and looked up into his face. It was his favourite dog, his constant companion. He stooped to pat it as he spoke, and, as Kenneth looked at the hand laid on the head of the collie, he saw at last that for which he had been looking—he saw that the little finger of the Earl's right hand had lost the last joint.
Then, in a moment, he knew what was the missing word in the letter found in the safe; he knew beyond all doubt that he was at that moment standing in the presence of his own father.
[CHAPTER XXV]
WAITING FOR THE ANSWER