acquainted with it?"

"With every pleasure. But before I do so I think it only fair to tell
you that you will not believe my explanation. And yet it _should_
convince you. At any rate we'll try. In your right-hand top waistcoat
pocket you have three cards." Here he leant his head on his hands and
shut his eyes. "One is crinkled and torn, but it has written on it, in
pencil, the name of Edward Braithwaite, Macquarrie Street, Sydney. I
presume the name is Braithwaite, but the _t_ and _e_ are almost
illegible. The second is rather a high-sounding one--the Hon. Sylvester
Wetherell, Potts Point, Sydney, New South Wales; and the third is, I
take it, your own, Richard Hatteras. Am I right?"

I put my fingers in my pocket, and drew out what it contained--a
half-sovereign, a shilling, a small piece of pencil, and three cards.
The first, a well-worn piece of pasteboard, bore, surely enough, the
name of Edward Braithwaite, and was that of the solicitor with whom I
transacted my business in Sydney; the second was given me by my
sweetheart's father the day before we left Australia; and the third was
certainly my own.

Was this witchcraft or only some clever conjuring trick? I asked myself
the question, but could give it no satisfactory answer. At any rate you
may be sure it did not lessen my respect for my singular companion.

"Ah! I am right, then!" he cried exultingly. "Isn't it strange how the
love of being right remains with us, when we think we have safely
combated every other self-conceit. Well, Mr. Hatteras, I am very pleased
to have made your acquaintance. Somehow I think we are destined to meet
again--where I cannot say. At any rate, let us hope that that meeting
will be as pleasant and successful as this has been."

But I hardly heard what he said. I was still puzzling my brains over his
extraordinary conjuring trick--for trick I am convinced it was. He had
risen and was slowly drawing on his gloves when I spoke.

"I have been thinking over those cards," I said, "and I am considerably
puzzled. How on earth did you know they were there?"

"If I told you, you would have no more faith in my powers. So with your
permission I will assume the virtue of modesty. Call it a conjuring
trick, if you like. Many curious things are hidden under that
comprehensive term. But that is neither here nor there. Before I go
would you like to see one more?"

"Very much, indeed, if it's as good as the last!"

In the window stood a large