fully.

"I presume you mean the newspapers. And what is there in the newspapers
that interests you?"

Mr. Holland took a gold case from his pocket, opened it languidly, and
selected a cigarette. He was closing it when he caught the chauffeur's
eye and tossed a cigarette to him.

"Thank you, sir," said the man.

"What was it you didn't like?" asked Mr. Holland again, passing a match.

"Well, sir, I've been in all sorts of queer places," said Feltham
doggedly, as he puffed away at the cigarette, "but I've always managed
to keep clear of anything--funny. Do you see what I mean?"

"By funny I presume you don't mean comic," said Mr. Rex Holland
cheerfully. "You mean dishonest, I suppose?"

"That's right, sir, and there's no doubt that I have been in a swindle,
and it's worrying me--that bank-forgery case. Why, I read my own
description in the paper!"

Beads of perspiration stood upon the little man's forehead, and there
was a pathetic droop to his mouth.

"That is a distinction which falls to few of us," said his employer
suavely. "You ought to feel highly honored. And what are you going to do
about it, Feltham?"

The man looked to left and right as though seeking some friend in need
who would step forth with ready-made advice.

"The only thing I can do, sir," he said, "is to give myself up."

"And give me up, too," said the other, with a little laugh. "Oh, no, my
dear Feltham. Listen; I will tell you something. A few weeks ago I had a
very promising valet chauffeur just like you. He was an admirable man,
and he was also a foreigner. I believe he was a Swede. He came to me
under exactly the same circumstances as you arrived, and he received
exactly the same instructions as you have received, which unfortunately
he did not carry out to the letter. I caught him pilfering from me--a
few trinkets of no great value--and, instead of the foolish fellow
repenting, he blurted out the one fact which I did not wish him to know,
and incidentally which I did not wish anybody in the world to know.

"He knew who I was. He had seen me in the West End and had discovered my
identity. He even sought an interview with some one to whom it would
have been inconvenient to have made known my--character. I promised to
find him another job, but he had already decided upon changing and had
cut out an advertisement from a newspaper. I parted friendly with him,
wished him luck, and he went off to interview his possible employer,
smoking