r events have done much to
confirm me in the opinion that he was innocent."

"Later events?"

"Yes." The Colonel leaned across the table and his voice fell to a
whisper. "Four years ago a great change took place in Maurice Oakley. It
happened in the space of a day, and no one knows the cause of it. From a
social, companionable man, he became a recluse, shunning visitors and
dreading society. From an open-hearted, unsuspicious neighbour, he
became secretive and distrustful of his own friends. From an active
business man, he has become a retired brooder. He sees no one if he can
help it. He writes no letters and receives none, not even from his
brother, it is said. And all of this came about in the space of
twenty-four hours."

"But what was the beginning of it?"

"No one knows, save that one day he had some sort of nervous attack. By
the time the doctor was called he was better, but he kept clutching his
hand over his heart. Naturally, the physician wanted to examine him
there, but the very suggestion of it seemed to throw him into a frenzy;
and his wife too begged the doctor, an old friend of the family, to
desist. Maurice Oakley had been as sound as a dollar, and no one of the
family had had any tendency to heart affection."

"It is strange."

"Strange it is, but I have my theory."

"His actions are like those of a man guarding a secret."

"Sh! His negro laundress says that there is an inside pocket in his
undershirts."

"An inside pocket?"

"Yes."

"And for what?" Skaggs was trembling with eagerness.

The Colonel dropped his voice lower.

"We can only speculate," he said; "but, as I have said, I have my
theory. Oakley was a just man, and in punishing his old servant for the
supposed robbery it is plain that he acted from principle. But he is
also a proud man and would hate to confess that he had been in the
wrong. So I believed that the cause of his first shock was the finding
of the money that he supposed gone. Unwilling to admit this error, he
lets the misapprehension go on, and it is the money which he carries in
his secret pocket, with a morbid fear of its discovery, that has made
him dismiss his servants, leave his business, and refuse to see his
friends."

"A very natural conclusion, Colonel, and I must say that I believe you.
It is strange that others have not seen as you have seen and brought the
matter to light."

"Well, you see, Mr. Skaggs, none are so dull as the people who think
they