It might, at any
time, through any series of mishaps of a kind I hardly like to
contemplate, but, nevertheless, quite possible in this world of
cross-purposes and sudden surprises, become of paramount importance in
the family; for in point of seniority it stands next to ourselves. The
next heir to the title, after you and your brothers, is the grandson
of Anastasius Wilders, a lad of whom I know nothing, except that he is
quite unfitted to assume the dignity of an Earl of Essendine, should
fate ever will it that he should succeed. This unfitness you will
readily appreciate when I tell you that he is at present a private
soldier in a marching-regiment in the East. Stranger still, this
regiment is the same as that in which poor Anastasius is serving--the
Royal Picts. The young man's name is McKay--Stanislas Anastasius
Wilders McKay. I have never seen him; but I am satisfied of his
existence, and of the absolute validity of his claims. My agents have
long had their eye on him, and through them I have full information of
his movements and disposition. He appears a decent, good sort of
youth. But I feel satisfied that we ought, as far as is possible by
human endeavour, to prevent his becoming the head of the family.
"You are now in possession of the whole of the facts, my dear
Lydstone, and I need scarcely insist upon the way in which you are
affected by them.
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