et couple a compartment in which there was
now ample room to stretch his fawn-coloured limbs.

He did so with a sigh of relief, leaning back and smiling gently to
himself as the train glided forward upon its final stage. His recent
misfortune appeared to trouble him not at all; indeed, as Waterloo was
approached, the smile grew if anything more pronounced. He might have
been thinking about some subject that amused him greatly.

Presently, turning towards his companions, he found the gaze of both the
quiet men fixed upon him with a look of somewhat derisive compassion. It
was apparent that the ease with which the Sportsman had been tempted
into parting with his money had excited at once their pity and their
contempt. For a time he endured this regard in uneasy silence. Then, as
the preliminary jar of the brakes heralded Waterloo, he spoke.

"I perceive, gentlemen," said he, "that you are apparently labouring
under a delusion with regard to my part in the transactions that you
have just witnessed."

"I was wondering," returned the first of the quiet men, "how anyone
could in these days be gulled by so transparent a set of rogues."

"Your wonder is, as I have said, misplaced. With regard to the persons
who lately left us, the word transparent is, if anything, an
understatement. The curate, the horsey stranger and the red-faced man
were, of course, discredited before NOAH entered the Ark."

"And yet," said the quiet man, staring, "we have this moment seen them
take good money from you!"

"That," answered the Complete Sportsman as he prepared to alight, "is
precisely where you make your mistake. The notes for which you saw me
obtain change from one of the confederates, and of which change I lost
less than half, were themselves----"

He paused, startled by the alteration that had taken place in the
demeanour of the quiet men, who had risen simultaneously. The train had
now stopped, and, glancing hastily over his shoulder, he saw that
Red-face and his companions, who must have continued their journey in
another compartment, were now surrounding the door.

For the first time the smile of the Complete Sportsman betrayed
uneasiness. "What--what does this mean?" he demanded.

"Merely," said the first of the quiet men blandly, "that your game is
up. You uttered at least twenty of those notes on the course to-day, and
we were bound to have you. My name is Inspector Pilling, of Scotland
Yard, and these gentlemen are my col