ered one of my questions,'
he said. 'How was the gold come by?'

'There's no objection on that score,' Ryder answered lightly. 'It was
come by dishonestly, every grain of it.'

'To me that is a serious objection. I am an honest man, my instincts are
all for fair dealing, and I believe, as a simple everyday working
principle, honesty is the best policy.'

'Honesty is not a policy, my boy: it is a misfortune.'

'Why do you wish to share your loot with me?'

'Seventy or eighty thousand ounces of gold is not easily accounted for
nor easily disposed of by a guest of the Queen who is on leave without a
ticket that will bear the closest investigation. You could dispose of it
safely enough.'

'And if I were asked to account for it?'

'That is provided for. I have discovered a field within a day's journey
that nobody else knows of--that nobody else is likely to know of. You and
I go there, we work it for a few months, and the gold I have mentioned is
to be represented as the result of our labours if it becomes necessary to
make explanations. A few thousand ounces in nuggets which might 'by some
unhappy chance be recognised by previous owners we shall batter into
slugs and reserve for sale in other lands.'

And then?'

'Then all that life in London and Paris means to men with great
fortunes.' Ryder was smiling as he spoke. 'Then to seize and enjoy all
that smug respectability is willing to give to the wealthy, and much that
it is unwilling to give, but which it shall be our pleasure to take. Then
to exact our revenge for all we have endured at the hands of society by
making it in some measure the slave to minister to our needs and our
desires. I positively tremble, my brother, when I think of the little
mischief one man can work; but with money and ingenuity, combined with
devotion to purpose, we may succeed in accomplishing quite a decent
vengeance.'

'I have no desire for revenge upon society.'

'To be sure, you have not sat through the long black night in, a cold
cell with the rats, a wet rag thrown over your lacerated back, the chains
eating into your flesh like the nibbling of tiny teeth, thinking of the
good people who rule England, sitting at their blazing fires or smiling
round the laden tables.'

'No, thank God!'

'If you had you might appreciate the subtle delight of sinning against
your enemies. I am going back to England to devote what arts I know, what
cunning I have, and what attractions I can assum