A STRANGE STORY.
"Gerald," said Mr. Weston, "you went away very suddenly and strangely; I often wondered as to the cause."
"And never suspected?"
"I think not the right cause. I imagined a hundred things in my endeavours to fathom the mystery, but without success. It is a mystery still to me."
"You imagine such things as----" He paused for Mr. Weston to take up his words.
"As whether you were in any money difficulties, for one."
Mr. Hart shook his head. If my readers have failed to guess that the stranger and he are one and the same person, I have been unskilful in my narration.
"No," he said, "when I left I owed no man a shilling, and I had money in my purse."
"I cannot recall now the various constructions I put upon your disappearance. It must have been a powerful reason that caused you to desert your friend without a word of explanation."
"It was a powerful reason. Would you like to hear it, Richard?"