"This is strange!" said the old gentleman. "Do you remember our
conversation on that evening when I first had the unlooked-for pleasure
of receiving you as a guest into my house? At that time I spoke to you
of a strange family story, of which there was no denouement, such as a
novel-writer would desire, and which had remained in that unfinished
posture for more than two hundred years! Well; perhaps it will gratify
you to know that there seems a prospect of that wanting termination being
supplied!"
"Indeed!" said Middleton.
"Yes," replied the Master. "A gentleman has just parted with me who was
indeed the representative of the family concerned in the story. He is
the descendant of a younger son of that family, to whom the estate
devolved about a century ago, although at that time there was search for
the heirs of the elder son, who had disappeared after the bloody incident
which I related to you. Now, singular as it may appear, at this late
day, a person claiming to be the descendant and heir of that eldest son
has appeared, and if I may credit my friend's account, is disposed not
only to claim the estate, but the dormant title which Eldredge himself
has been so long preparing to claim for himself.
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