sion of
the keyhole and trust to my anarchist friend for the rest. But to my
amazement I discovered all the papers pertaining to the concern in a
desk which was not even locked. The books, three in number, were the
ordinary day book, journal, and ledger referring to the shop;
book-keeping of the older fashion; but in a portfolio lay half a dozen
foolscap sheets, headed 'Mr. Rogers's List', 'Mr. Macpherson's', 'Mr
Tyrrel's', the names I had already learned, and three others. These
lists contained in the first column, names; in the second column,
addresses; in the third, sums of money; and then in the small, square
places following were amounts ranging from two-and-sixpence to a
pound. At the bottom of Mr. Macpherson's list was the name Alport
Webster, Imperial Flats, L10; then in the small, square place, five
shillings. These six sheets, each headed by a canvasser's name, were
evidently the record of current collections, and the innocence of the
whole thing was so apparent that if it were not for my fixed rule
never to believe that I am at the bottom of any case until I have come
on something suspicious, I would have gone out empty-handed as I came
in.

The six sheets were loose in a thin portfolio, but standing on a shelf
above the desk were a number of fat volumes, one of which I took down,
and saw that it contained similar lists running back several years. I
noticed on Mr. Macpherson's current list the name of Lord Semptam, an
eccentric old nobleman whom I knew slightly. Then turning to the list
immediately before the current one the name was still there; I traced
it back through list after list until I found the first entry, which
was no less than three years previous, and there Lord Semptam was down
for a piece of furniture costing fifty pounds, and on that account he
had paid a pound a week for more than three years, totalling a hundred
and seventy pounds at the least, and instantly the glorious simplicity
of the scheme dawned upon me, and I became so interested in the
swindle that I lit the gas, fearing my little lamp would be exhausted
before my investigation ended, for it promised to be a long one.

In several instances the intended victim proved shrewder than old
Simpson had counted upon, and the word 'Settled' had been written on
the line carrying the name when the exact number of instalments was
paid. But as these shrewd persons dropped out, others took their
places, and Simpson's dependence on their absent