of we three meeting again with a
vengeance. And what have you been up to, Halgrove, these twenty years?
No good, I'll be bound."

"I have at least managed to keep clear of matrimony," said Mr Halgrove,
"which is more than either of you virtuous family men can say."

"Ah, well," said the colonel, with a sigh, "that's not all misfortune--
witness my sweet daughter and Rimbolt's fine boy. What have you got to
show against that?"

"Nothing, I confess."

"By the way, though, haven't you? The last I heard of you was in the
papers; a record of a generous act on your part. You had adopted the
son of an unfortunate partner of yours who had died. Is he still with
you?"

"No," said Mr Halgrove; "that turned out an unfortunate speculation in
every way."

"Did the boy bolt?"

"Not exactly. I sent him to a first-rate school, where he distinguished
himself in a way of his own by an act of homicide."

"What?" exclaimed the colonel; and Mr Rimbolt suddenly became
attentive.

"Yes. He either quite or very nearly did for a young schoolfellow in a
fit of the tantrums, and found it convenient to quit the place rather
abruptly."

"What was the name of the school?" asked Mr Rimbolt quietly.

"Bolsover, in --shire."

"Singular!" exclaimed the colonel. "I had a chum in India who had a boy
at that very school."

Here the speaker became aware of a sharp kick under the table and a
significant look from Mr Rimbolt. The old soldier was used to obey the
word of command at a moment's notice and pulled up now.

"I should think a thing like that would be very bad for the school,"
said Mr Rimbolt quietly, and in an off-hand way.

"Fatal," said Mr Halgrove. "I believe Bolsover went to the dogs after
it."

"And so you had--you had young--what was his name?"

"Jeffreys."

"Young Jeffreys on your hands?"

"Scarcely. We parted company. As I told him, I never was particular,
but a man must draw the line somewhere, and I drew it at manslaughter."

"What became of him?"

"Well, before I went abroad he was usher in a dame school in York. He
may be there still, unless by this time all his pupils are devoured."

"Very unpleasant business for you," said Mr Rimbolt.

"And," asked the colonel, with a wink at his brother-in-law, "did he,
like the prodigal, take his portion of goods with him? I mean what his
father left him."

Mr Halgrove for a moment raised his brows uncomfortably.

"No," said he; "Benjamin Jeffreys was