to Eccleston; and having leisurely refreshed himself at the inn, and
ordered his dinner with care, he walked up to the great warehouse of
Bradshaw and Co., and sent in his card, with a pencil notification,
"On the part of the Star Insurance Company," to Mr Bradshaw himself.

Mr Bradshaw held the card in his hand for a minute or two without
raising his eyes. Then he spoke out loud and firm:

"Desire the gentleman to walk up. Stay! I will ring my bell in a
minute or two, and then show him upstairs."

When the errand-boy had closed the door, Mr Bradshaw went to a
cupboard where he usually kept a glass and a bottle of wine (of which
he very seldom partook, for he was an abstemious man). He intended
now to take a glass, but the bottle was empty; and though there was
plenty more to be had for ringing, or even simply going into another
room, he would not allow himself to do this. He stood and lectured
himself in thought.

"After all, I am a fool for once in my life. If the certificates are
in no box which I have yet examined, that does not imply they may not
be in some one which I have not had time to search. Farquhar would
stay so late last night! And even if they are in none of the boxes
here, that does not prove--" He gave the bell a jerking ring, and it
was yet sounding when Mr Smith, the insurance clerk, entered.

The manager of the Insurance Company had been considerably nettled at
the tone of Mr Bradshaw's letter; and had instructed the clerk to
assume some dignity at first in vindicating (as it was well in his
power to do) the character of the proceedings of the Company, but
at the same time he was not to go too far, for the firm of Bradshaw
and Co. was daily looming larger in the commercial world, and if any
reasonable explanation could be given it was to be received, and
bygones be bygones.

"Sit down, sir!" said Mr Bradshaw.

"You are aware, sir, I presume, that I come on the part of Mr
Dennison, the manager of the Star Insurance Company, to reply in
person to a letter of yours, of the 29th, addressed to him?"

Mr Bradshaw bowed. "A very careless piece of business," he said,
stiffly.

"Mr Dennison does not think you will consider it as such when you
have seen the deed of transfer, which I am commissioned to show you."

Mr Bradshaw took the deed with a steady hand. He wiped his spectacles
quietly, without delay, and without hurry, and adjusted them on his
nose. It is possible that he was rather long in