He would not submit to
discipline, and resigned the service. Then his father died, and Bob went
off to South America. I have never heard of him since. I know very little
about my younger uncle's household. Indeed, the occasion recorded by the
photograph was the last time the old men met in friendship. There was a
dispute about money matters. My Uncle Charles was in the city, the two
estates being left by my grandfather to the two oldest sons. Charles
Hume-Frazer died a poor man, having lost his fortune by speculation."
"Have you seen your cousin Robert? Did he resemble Alan and you?"
"We were all as like as peas. People say that our house is remarkable for
the unchanging type of its male line. That is readily demonstrated by the
family portraits. You have not been in the dining-room or picture-gallery
at Beechcroft, or you must have noticed this instantly."
Brett flung himself into a chair.
"The Argentine!" he muttered. "A nice school for a 'quarrelsome'
Hume-Frazer."
He had calmed sufficiently to reach for his cigarette-case when Smith
entered with a note, delivered by a boy messenger.
It was from Winter:
"Have found Okasaki. His name is now Numagawa Jiro, so you were right, as
usual. He and Mrs. Jiro live at 17 St. John's Mansions, Kensington."
CHAPTER XI
MR. "OKASAKI"
In fifteen minutes Brett was bowling along Knightsbridge in a hansom,
having left Hume with a strict injunction to rack his brains for any
further undiscovered facts bearing upon the inquiry, and turn up promptly
at ten o'clock next morning.
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