d a graver matter remained. He had desired wealth to save
Yarleys, but he desired it still more for a different purpose. Above
everything on earth he loved Barbara, his distant cousin and the niece
of Mr. Champers-Haswell, who until an hour ago had been his partner.
Now she was a great heiress, and without fortune he could not marry her,
even if she would marry him, which remained in doubt. For one thing
her uncle and guardian Haswell, under her father's will, had absolute
discretion in this matter until she reached the age of twenty-five, and
for another he was too proud. Therefore it would seem that in abandoning
his business, he had abandoned his chance of Barbara also, which was a
truly dreadful thought.

Well, it was in order that he might see her, that he had agreed to visit
The Court on the morrow, even though it meant a meeting with his late
partners, who were the last people with whom he desired to foregather
again so soon. Then and there he made up his mind that before he bade
Barbara farewell, he would tell her the whole story, so that she might
not misjudge him. After that he would go off somewhere--to Africa
perhaps. Meanwhile he was quite tired out, as tired as though he had
lain a week in the grip of fever. He must eat some food and get to
bed. Sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof, yet on the whole he
blessed the name of Jackson, editor of _The Judge_ and his father's old
friend.

When Alan had left the office Sir Robert turned to Mr. Champers-Haswell
and asked him abruptly, "What the devil does this mean?"

Mr. Haswell looked up at the ceiling and whistled in his own peculiar
fashion, then answered:

"I cannot say for certain, but our young friend's strange conduct seems
to suggest that he has smelt a rat, possibly even that Jackson, the old
beast, has shown him a rat--of a large Turkish breed."

Sir Robert nodded.

"Vernon is a fellow who doesn't like rats; they seem to haunt his
sleep," he said; "but do you think that having seen it, he will keep it
in the bag?"

"Oh! certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Haswell with cheerfulness;
"the man is the soul of honour; he will never give us away. Look how he
behaved about those shares. Still, I think that perhaps we are well rid
of him. Too much honour, like too much zeal, is a very dangerous quality
in any business."

"I don't know that I agree with you," answered Sir Robert. "I am not
sure that in the long run we should not do better fo