hieroglyphics. Then I got hold of a new book all about the Assyrians and the cuneiform character.'

'I see,' said Angela. You were attracted by the ancient inscriptions?'

Naturally; without inscriptions, where are you? The scholars said this, and the scholars said that. They talked of reading the Egyptian language, and the Assyrian, and the Median, and what not. That wouldn't do for me.'

The audacity of the little man excited Angela's curiosity, which had been languid.

'Pray go on,' she said.

The scholars have the same books to go to as me. Yet they don't go. They've eyes as good, but they won't use them. Now follow me, Miss, and you'll be surprised. When Abraham went down into Egypt, did he understand their language or didn't he?' "Why, I suppose—at least, it is not said that he did not.' 'Of course he did. When Joseph went there, did he understand them? Of course he did. When Jacob and his sons came into the country, did they talk a strange speech? Not they. When Solomon married an Egyptian princess, did he understand her talk? Why, of course he did. Now, do you guess what's coming next?'

'No, not at all.'

'None of the scholars could. Listen, then. If they all understood each other, they must have all talked the same language, mustn't they?'

Why, it would seem so.'

It's a sound argument, which can't be denied. Nobody can deny it-I defy them. If they understood each other, there must have been a common language. Where did this common language spread? Over all the countries thereabout. What was the common language? Hebrew.'

'Oh!' said Angela. Then, they all talked Hebrew!' 'Every man Jack. Nothing else known. What next? They wanted to write it. Now, we find what seems to be one character in Egypt, and another in Syria, and another in Arabia, and another in Phoenicia, and another in Judæa. Bless you, I know all about these alphabets. What I say is-if a common language, then a common alphabet to write it with.'

'I see, a common alphabet. Which you discovered, perhaps.' "That, young lady, is my Discovery. That is the greatest Discovery of the age. I found it, myself, once a small shoemaker in a little Victorian township; I alone found out that common alphabet, and have come over here to make it known. Not bad,

says you, for a shoemaker who had to teach himself his own Hebrew.'

6 And the scholars here

'They're jealous, that's what it is; they're jealous. Most of them have written books to prove other things, and they won't give in and own that they've been wrong. My word! The scholars He paused and shook his hands before her face. Some of them have got the Hebrew alphabet, and try to make out how one letter is a house and another a bull's head. And so on. And some have got the cuneiforms, and they make out that one bundle of arrows is an A and another a B. And so on. And some have got the hieroglyphic, and it's the same game with all. While I -if you please-with my little plain simple Discovery just show that all the different alphabets-different to outward seemingare really one and the same.'

This is very interesting,' said Angela. The little man was glowing with enthusiasm and pride; he was transformed; he walked up and down throwing about his arms; he stood before her, looking almost tall; his eyes flashed with fire, and his voice was strong. 'And can you read inscriptions by your simple alphabet?

'There is not,' he replied, 'a single inscription in the British Museum that I can't read. I just sit down before it, with my Hebrew dictionary in my hand-I didn't tell you I learned Hebrew on purpose, did I?-and I read that inscription, however long it is. Ah!'

This seems extraordinary. Can you show me your alphabet?'
He sat down, and began to make figures.

'What is the simplest figure? A circle? a square? a naught? No. A triangle. Very good, then. Do you think they were such fools as to copy a great ugly bull's head when they'd got a triangle ready to their hands and easy to draw? Not they; they just made a triangle-so-' he drew an equilateral triangle on its base--and called it the first letter; and two triangles, one a top of the other-so-and called that the second letter. Then they stuck their triangle in another position, and it was the third letter; and in another, and it is the fourth-' Angela felt as if her head was swimming as he manipulated his triangles, and rapidly produced his primitive alphabet, which really did present some resemblance to the modern symbols. There-and there-and there -and what is that? and this? And so you've got the whole. Now, young lady, with this in your hand, which is the key to all learning and the Hebrew dictionary-there's nothing you can't manage.'

And an account of this is to be given in your book, is it?' 'That is the secret of my book. Now you know what it was I found out; now you see why my friends paid my passage home, and are now looking for the glory which they prophesied.'

'Don't get gloomy again, Mr. Fagg. It is a long lane, you know, that has no turning. Let us hope for better luck.'

6

'No one will ever know,' he went on, the inscriptions that I have found-and read-in the Museum. They don't know what they've got. I've told nobody yet, but they are all in my book, and I'll tell you beforehand, Miss Kennedy, because you've been kind to me. Yes, a woman is best; I ought to have gone to the women first. I would marry you, Miss Kennedy, I would indeed; but I am too old, and besides, I don't think I could afford a family.'

'I thank you, Mr. Fagg, all the same. honour. But about these inscriptions?'

You do me a great

'Mind, it's a secret.' He lowered his voice to a whisper. There's cuneiform inscriptions in the Museum with David and Jonathan on them,-ah!-and Balaam and Balak-Aho!-' he positively chuckled over the thought of these great finds—' and the whole life of Jezebel-Jezebel! what do you think of that? And what else do you think they have got, only they don't know it? The TWO TABLES OF STONE!! Nothing short of the Two Tables, with the Ten Commandments written out at length!!!'

Angela gazed with amazement at this admirable man; his faith in himself; his audacity; the grandeur of his conceptions; the wonderful power of his imagination overwhelmed her. But, to be sure, she had never before met a genuine enthusiast.

'I know where they are kept; nobody else knows. It is in a dark corner; they are each about two feet high; and there's a hole in the corner of each for Moses's thumb to hold them by. Think of that! I've read them all through, only '--he added with a look of bewilderment- I think there must be something wrong with my Hebrew dictionary, because none of the commandments read quite right. One or two come out quite surprising. Yet the stones must be right, mustn't they? There can be no question about that; and the Discovery must be right. No question about that. And as for the dictionaries-who put them together? tell me that! Yah! the scholars!

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE MISSING LINK.

THE Professor, then, started on his quest with a cheerful heart, caused by the certainty of dinner for some days to come. But he was an honest Professor, and he did not prolong his absence for the sake of those dinners. On the other hand, he made the most rapid despatch consistent with thorough work, and returned after an absence of four days, bearing with him the fruits of his re search.

'I think,' said Harry, after reading his report- I think, Miss Kennedy, that we have found a Missing Link.'

'Then, they really will make their claim good?'

I did not say that-quite. I said that we have found a Missing Link. There might be, if you will think of it-two. One of them would have connected the condescending wheelwright with his supposed parent, the last Lord Davenant. The other would connect him with-quite another father.'

The truth, which was for some time carefully concealed from the illustrious pair, was, in fact, this.

There is a village of Davenant surrounding or adjoining a castle of Davenant, just as Alnwick, Arundel, Durham, Lancaster, Chepstow, Raglan, and a great many more English towns have a castle near them. And whether Davenant town was built to be protected by the castle, or the castle for the protection of the town, is a point on which I must refer you to the county historian, who knows all about it and is not likely to deceive you on so important a point. The castle is now a picturesque ruin, with a country house built beside it. In this country house the last Lord Davenant died and the last heir to the title was born. There is an excellent old church, with a tower and ivy, and high-pitched roof, as an ancient church should have, and in the family vault under the chancel all the Davenants, except the last heir, lie buried.

There is also in the village a small country inn called the Davenant Arms, where the Professor put up, and where he made himself extraordinarily popular, because, finding himself among an assemblage of folk slow to see and slower still to think, he astonished them for four nights consecutively. The rustics still tell, and will continue to tell, so long as memory lasts, of the wonderful man who took their money out of their waistcoats, exchanged handkerchiefs, conveyed potatoes into strange coat pockets, read their thoughts, picked out the cards they had chosen, made them take a card he had chosen whether they wanted it or not, caused balls

of glass to vanish, changed halfpence into half-crowns, had a loaded pistol fired at himself and caught the ball, with other great marvels, all for nothing, to oblige and astonish the villagers, and for the good of the house. These were the recreations of his evening hours. The mornings he spent in the vestry of the old church searching the registers.

There was nothing professional about it, only the drudgery of clerk's work; to do it at all was almost beneath his dignity; yet he went through with it conscientiously, and restrained himself from inviting the sexton, who stayed with him, to lend him his handkerchief or to choose a card. Nor did he even hide a card in the sexton's pocket, and then convey it into the parish register. Nothing of the sort. He was sternly practical, and searched diligently. Nevertheless, he noted how excellent a place for the simpler feats would be the reading-desk. The fact is, that gentlemen of his profession never go to church, and therefore are ignorant of the uses of its various parts. On Sunday morning they lie in bed; on Sunday afternoon they have dinner, and perhaps the day's paper, and on Sunday evening they gather at a certain house of call for conjurers in Drury Lane and practise on each other. There is, therefore, no room in the conjurer's life for church. Some remedy should be found for this by the bishops.

6

"What have I got to look for?' said the Professor, as the sexton produced the old books. Well, I've got to find what families there were living here a hundred years ago, or thereabouts, named Davenant, and what Christian names they had, and whether there were two children born and baptised here in one year, both bearing the name of Davenant.'

The sexton shook his head. He was only a middle-aged man, and therefore not yet arrived at sextonial ripeness; for a sexton only begins to be mellow when he is ninety or thereabouts. He knew nothing of the Davenants except that there were once Lords Davenant, now lying in the family vault below the chancel, and none of them left in the parish at all, nor any in his memory, nor in that of his father's before him, so far as he could tell.

After a careful examination of the books, the Professor was enabled to state with confidence that at the time in question the Davenant name was borne by none but the family at the castle; that there were no cousins of the name in the place; and that the heir born in that year was christened on such a day, and received the name of Timothy Clitheroe.

If this had been the only evidence, the case would have made in favour of the Canaan City claimant; but, unfortunately, there was another discovery made by the Professor, at sight of which h

VOL. XLVII. NO. CLXXXVIII.

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