"It is you," he cried, "you, the thinker, who question me. I never gave a
thought to you, or I would not now be slowly sinking into death. I might
have guessed that a higher intelligence was at work than that which saw
the Ko-Katana with its motto, and yet failed to read its story. You ask my
motives. Can a man explain heredity? Here"--and he threw a packet of
papers on the writing-desk--"are the proofs of my identity. It is not long
ago, only one hundred and fifty years, since David Hume was robbed of his
birthright, and what is such a period to the old families of England and
Japan? There are men living in Japan to-day who saw his son in the flesh.
I am his lawful descendant. I came to England and resolved to be an
Englishman. But I needed money. Do you remember our motto, 'A new field
gives a small crop'? The first Japanese Hume did not prosper. He was a
good fighter, but he saved no yen. So I applied to my family. I came here
on the New Year's Eve, and Sir Alan Hume-Frazer saw me walking up the
avenue. He stepped out through that window to meet me. He was surprised at
my appearance, and thought I was his cousin Robert, whom he had not seen
for years."
At this remarkable statement the four listeners chiefly concerned looked
wonderingly at each other. The main incidents of the family feud were
repeating themselves in a ghostly manner.
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