Chapter Ii.

most uncomfortable of all to look on is the grin of him who is certain that- the man who would like to be his enemy is forced to appear his friend . Then he started thinking . Moss , he mused , is the sort of pitiful sneak who would see no difference in putting his hand in his master's

till , and such like petty thefts , and such hi gh flights of crime as forgery and artistic fraud . Unfortunately , the law agrees with Moss , and while the petty larcenist only retires for a twelvemonth , the artistic scoundrel has an opportunity of studying prison interiors for seven vears . This is hardly even-handed -justice . The

excellent Moss , moreover , sends me on an errand of problematic plunder , in which , of course , he expects to share , whatever the loot may be ; he knows me only as an actor just off a provincial tour , who always spends the bulk of his salary in dress , and therefore fancies he has got me under his thumb , and that I can ' t get away . He doesn't remember that half-a-dozen years in the States have made me just a wee bit ahead of the raw , young , would-be bucks of country towns , who are always ready

for a gamble , and moreover that , with an occasional good day on a racecourse , I have got quite enough together to enable me to bolt at will without any reference to the wishes of my excellent friend Moss . 1 don't mind a week or two in pleasant company , and if , in the words of Moss and Micawber , anything should turn np , I don ' t think I shall come at full speed to the latter

to cut np the plunder . Xo , my Moss , my future speculations shall be unaided by your genial counsel . When Mr . Moss returned he found his young friend iu a most amiable mood ; he was perfectly ready fo have a telegram sent off at once announcing that he should be down by the Granville express on the following Monday , and , after a nice little dinner together , separated from him with the nearest

approach to a blessing in the words , " My dear boy , if yer want to be advised about anything , or to live quietly for a little , mind you send me a wire . " "If I require you , 1 will , " said Verner coolly , and left the suspicious Hebrew gazing dubiously after him , as he climbed into his cab and drove away .

Chapter Iii.

CHAPTER III .

Time and the improved steam engine between them work wonders , and so Mr . Richard Verney , m Wimborne , was rattled and jolted clown by the London , Chatham , and Dover Railway as far as Favershain iu double quick time . Having got so far he fondly imagined that he was nearly at his journey's end , and congratulated himself that the Hask and the cigarettes had lasted so long ; the illustrated paper had given out some fewmiles before Chatham was reached . Then a bucolic person hacl

got in , who bided his time patiently until Faversham had been passed ; the rest of the journey , which in aggravatingly stopped at such stations as Whitstable , dear to the oyster-eater ; Herne Bay , so called because there is not the least inflection of the coast line there ; Birchington , and such other tedious

interruptions ot the journey , the line passing through flat grass country intersected by continual converging dykes protected by a seawall , ancl hereabout large numbers of slice ]) and cattle graze at large . This was the bucolic person ' s opportunity : " The sheep alongside this ' ere line , " he remarks , in a hoarse and confidential whisper , " are worth a matter of two ' underd

and -fifty thousand pounds , and , " with a broad chuckle , "I . shouldn ' t mind ' aving the cheque in my pocket for it this minute , should you ' ' . " Dick smiles as civilly as a murderous desire to pitch the bucolic out of window will allow him and then listens with the patience of the crucified to an utterl y

Chapter Iii.

incoherent version of the origin of the twin beacons of the Rcculotos . And on he suffers fill finally after the train has disgorged half a synagogue full of jubilant Hebrews at Margate , the church and struggling village of Broadstairs at length come iu sight . Mentally consigning the bucolic one to a ,

locality where cattle will not require much roasting , Dick leapt on to the platform , and was suddenly stopped by a good-natured looking fellow , in a free-and-easy canvas suit and straw- hat , who called out : " AVhat Wimborne ! Is that von ? "

Not best pleased at being recognised by his buried name , he looked hard at his interlocutor , until his fa . ee lit up as he recognised him . " Wilson Hardaway by the Great Panjandrum . Who the dickens would have expected to sec you down here . Why its years since we met . "

Now neither of these young men had ever been particularly fond of each other , and neither hacl spoken these words before a feeling of distrust went through the mind of each . And yefc their first greeting was that of reunited brothers ; from which it must bo concluded that , however far apart in point of morals , they must have been extremely good-hearted aud sympathetic

young men . " Well , " responded Hardaway , after a pause , " I'm staying down here and I can ' t see the man I was sent fo meet , which as I ' ve never seen him is not very odd . Some actor chap named Verner .

Dick coloured vividly . " That ' s my name , he said quietly , " and then a still more awkvvardpau . se ensued . " 111 send my luggage lo the hotel for to-night , and you and I will walk down to it . " Luggage collected and deposited in the charge of a little old outside porter , with a face like a creasy apple , and the two reunited acquaintances , they had never been friends , began their descent to the

sea . " I suppose , " began Dick , " yon never expected , or wanted for that matter , to see me again , and only heard that when I run through all my money I had to go abroad . Or perhaps you heard something " else " he added quickly , looking hard at his companion . "N-no , " hesitated Wilson . "Ah , then you did . Well take my ward I did nothing worse than lots of others who hold their heads high at their clubs when

they are continually at loggerheads with their bankers . " For the moment he really meant what he said ; in the forger ' s mind there is little difference between writing somebody else ' s name , and getting a cheque cashed that comes back marked N . F . The banker , and the lawyer , and the judge , and the man who draws the bad cheque see an appreciable difference . "My dear man , " said Wilson , * ' there are always numbers of

people who go under and disappear suddenly . But go on with your account of yourself . " "Well , tliere really isn ' t much to rell . 1 look to the stage out in the States ; J was always a fair actor , you know , aud without precisely leaving Now York Sound in flames , I did pretty well , until I had a stroke of luck at the card-table , and thought I'd come and have a look at the old country . I say the country advisedly , for of all fche odd lot , save von . I have seen none ,

and I don't suppose they'd be particularly anxious to reco <> -nise reckless Dick Wimborne in Mr . K . Vomer , actor and sta «* emanager of the Muncipal , Provincial , and American theatres , very much at your service . And so we will drop Dick Wimborne , as aforesaid , and wlien we have had a doubtless excellent shorn *

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