le the present end of it. He waved his hand
impatiently and focussed his undivided attention upon what was
transpiring.

A silence had fallen upon the crowded room and as the Honorable Milton
Waring allowed his gaze to rove upon their tense, expectant faces he
smiled reassuringly. He began with an explanation of the circumstances
leading up to the present situation. It was not merely to adjust
Interprovincial Loan Company affairs by the exposure of its official head
that he had brought them together. His integrity as a public servant had
been questioned and there were certain features that in the interests of
clean government required official enquiry. He was prepared to move for
the appointment of a royal commission to investigate and report upon
conditions vitally affecting financial institutions, election laws and
other matters. It was something with which he had concerned himself
seriously for several years, and it was partly to prove his theories in
this connection that with the assistance of Mr. Blatchford Ferguson he
had taken advantage of the situation which had developed in the affairs
of the Interprovincial. As a result of their investigations they stood
prepared to prove gross mismanagement, falsification of the returns
required by the Federal authorities, misuse of trust funds for private
ends, attempted corruption of government officials, et cetera.

The Honorable Milton was frank in his admission that during the recent
orgy of speculation into which the discovery of new mineral wealth had
led the public, he had become personally involved. He was only human and
the general excitement had induced him to make several disastrous
investments which had left his personal affairs in a precarious tangle
for a time. But it was an ill wind that blew nobody good. The financial
crisis through which he had passed had brought him in touch with J. C.
Nickleby, and it was not long before his eyes had been opened to the
unscrupulous methods that were being followed by the president of the
Interprovincial Loan & Savings Company. He had called in his learned
friend, Mr. Ferguson, and as a result of their consultations it had been
decided to make a few experiments in high finance with the object of
uncovering the whole system.

To this end they deliberately had cultivated Nickleby's confidence. It
was apparent from the first that the man was utterly devoid of common
honesty. It was his idea that government graft