ld not at first recall your face, but it soon came back to me. It was
a happy idea of yours shutting yourself up here when there was no chance
of an extradition warrant being applied for. However, to-morrow or next
day that little difficulty will be at an end. I thought I would come
and have a conversation with you, and naturally the course that I shall
take will depend a good deal on the results. I may mention," he went on,
taking a revolver from his pocket and laying it on the table before him,
"that I thought it as well to bring this with me, for just at present I
don't feel quite up to a personal tussle."

"What do you want to talk about?" the man asked, doggedly. "I may tell
you at once that I placed what little money I got where it will never be
found, and beyond sending me up for some years, there will be nothing to
be gained by denouncing me."

"There might be some satisfaction though in seeing a man who has ruined
you punished--at least there would be to some men. I don't know that
there would be to me. It would depend upon circumstances. I am ready to
believe that in those transactions of yours that brought the bank to
ruin, you honestly believed that the companies you assisted would turn
out well, and that things would come out right in the end. I do not
suppose you were such a fool as to run the risk of ruin and penal
servitude when you had a snug place, unless you had thought so; and,
indeed, as the directors were as responsible as yourself for making
those advances--although they were, of course, ignorant of the fact that
you held a considerable interest in those companies--there was nothing
actually criminal in those transactions. Therefore, it is only for that
matter of your making off with the contents of the safe that you can be
actually prosecuted. At any rate, I have no present intention of
interfering in the affair, and you can remain here as Mr. Jackson up to
the end of your life for what I care, if you will give me the
information that I desire."

The look on the man's face relaxed.

"I will give you any information you desire, I have nothing to conceal.
Of course, they can obtain a conviction against me for taking the money,
but I should save them trouble by pleading guilty at once. Therefore, I
don't see that I could harm myself in any way by answering any questions
they may choose to ask me."

"I want to get to the bottom of what has all along been a mystery to me,
and that is how my fathe