ntly hungry or thirsty to taste of the good things
provided for them.

They sat around the large, bare table, Ebenezer Brown and his three
guests, Garnett, Gifford and Gerard--the three G's, as Denis Quirk had
nicknamed them. Ebenezer Brown half leaned on the table, his face
peculiarly white and eyes very bright in the light of an incandescent
gas burner.

"Every man has a past, if you can unearth it. The greater the saint, the
worse his past. Eh, Garnett?" he asked.

It was noticeable that Garnett refrained from any direct answer;
possibly even he had had a past.

"That play," continued Ebenezer. "What did you call it?" he asked
Gerard.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Ebenezer Brown's hearing was exceptionally acute to-night.

"That's the one!" he cried; "and it's true to nature. There's good in a
few and bad in all. Eh, Gifford?"

"Unhappily there is," sighed Gifford.

"This man, Quirk," cried the old man, vindictively, "has a past, if we
can discover it. We must rid ourselves of him; he's a public nuisance, a
dangerous, meddlesome fellow. Always poking his nose into something;
always making things unpleasant. Quirk must go!"

"Quirk," said Garnett, in the slow and sententious manner he adopted,
"is a radical and a demagogue, a positive scourge to the town. As you
say, Quirk must go!"

Ebenezer Brown turned to Gerard this time and asked him:

"Are you prepared to make the necessary enquiries for us?"

"Certainly, if you are prepared to pay the necessary expenses," replied
Gerard, carelessly.

Ebenezer Brown winced at this, but his hatred of Denis Quirk was an
absorbing passion now.

"Garnett and I will share the expenses."

Garnett protested feebly, but the old man overbore him triumphantly.

"Garnett and I will pay," he said.

"Let me have it in writing," said Gerard, producing a typewritten paper
from his pocket.

Ebenezer Brown read it through carefully; then, after one or two
protests as to the amount, he prepared to sign it, but he paused,
saying:

"No evidence; no pay?"

Gerard looked the old man full in the face, and answered:

"You can add that. I promise you full and convincing evidence."

The deed was signed and witnessed to by Gifford and the old housekeeper,
aroused from her sleep for the purpose. A few minutes later the three
G's were leaving the house. As they emerged from the gate the bright
head lights of a motor picked them out distinctly, before the car swept
by, leaving