He promised well, passed
his examinations and practised at Penzance for a time. But then he
ceased to be interested in the work and presently joined his
father. In connection with the pilchard trade, he now visited Italy
and often spent a month at a time in that country.
"Few could give me any information as to his nature, and pictures of
him did not apparently exist; but an elderly relative was able to
tell me that Michael had been a silent, difficult boy. She also
showed me an old photograph of his parents, taken together with
their son when he must have been a child of three, or thereabout.
His father didn't suggest a man of character; but Mrs. Pendean
appeared to be a very handsome creature indeed, and it was at the
moment I studied her features through a magnifying glass that I won
my first conviction of a familiar likeness.
"It is a rule with me, when any sudden flash of intuition throws
real or false light upon a case, to submit the inspiration to a most
searching and destructive analysis and bring every known fact
against it.
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