'I guess I'm not missed most,' remarked Mr. Palmer. 'Can you wait here half an hour or so? I want to talk to you, but I've got other things that won't wait.'

Bertie looked at his watch.

'I can be back in an hour,' he said, 'if that will do.'

'Yes, an hour from now. Quarter to four, then,' and he nodded to him, shut up his heart again, and dismissed him from his thoughts as completely as he had left the room.

Bertie, as Mr. Palmer had supposed, had arrived in London only the evening before, and since Gallio was out of town, spending, in point of fact, a most unremunerative fortnight at Monte Carlo, on a system which lost infallibly, though slowly, had at his invitation taken possession of his chambers in Jermyn Street. He had come down to breakfast in as happy and contented a frame of mind as any young man, gifted with good digestion and a charming girl to whom he was engaged, need hope ever to find himself, and had seen with some satisfaction that there was only one letter waiting for him. He had expected rather to find creditors clamouring round him, for he had a respectable number of them waiting for his leisure cash, and had supposed that they would very politely have notified him of their existence as soon as he arrived. But there was only one letter for him. He opened it; its purport was as simple as a statement of accounts, and type-written. It began:

'DEAR SIR,

'I have the honour to remind you of a document, from which I have extracted the following.'

Then in neat marks of quotation were appended certain sentences.

'Why did you bewitch me if it was not for this?'

'When I am with you I am tongue-tied. Even now my hand halts as I think of you.'

'You are the only woman in the world for me. I offer you all I am and have, and shall be and shall have.'

There was a decent space left after these and other quotations—a silence of good manners. Then the letter continued:

'Mrs. Emsworth has reason to believe that you are about to marry Miss Amelie Palmer. She therefore offers you the chance of regaining possession of the letter, from which we have given you extracts, for the sum of ten thousand pounds (£10,000). Should you decide to accept her offer, you are requested to draw a cheque for the above-mentioned sum to the account of her present manager, Mr. Harold Bilton, who, on receipt of it, will forward to you a sealed envelope containing the complete letter from which the above are extracts. Should this not reach you within twenty-four hours, you are at liberty to stop the cheque. If, however, such cheque does not reach Mr. Harold Bilton by the evening of January 7, he will post the sealed packet in his possession (of the contents of which he has no idea), containing the original letter from which the above are extracts, to Mr. Lewis S. Palmer, Carlton Hotel, London. He has been instructed to do this on behalf of Mrs. Emsworth without admitting any discussion or temporizing on your part.

'We are, sir,
'Your respectful, obedient servants,
'A. B. C.'