r person, and it was not expedient that
his acquaintance should be made in the person of Richard Devine, lest
by some unlucky chance he should recognize the cheat. Thus poor Lionel
Crofton was compelled to lie still in his grave, and Mr. Richard Devine,
trusting to a big beard and more burly figure to keep his secret, was
compelled to begin his friendship with Mr. Lionel's whilom friends all
over again. In Paris and London there were plenty of people ready to
become hail-fellow-well-met with any gentleman possessing money. Mr.
Richard Devine's history was whispered in many a boudoir and club-room.
The history, however, was not always told in the same way. It was
generally known that Lady Devine had a son, who, being supposed to be
dead, had suddenly returned, to the confusion of his family. But the
manner of his return was told in many ways.

In the first place, Mr. Francis Wade, well-known though he was, did
not move in that brilliant circle which had lately received his nephew.
There are in England many men of fortune, as large as that left by the
old ship-builder, who are positively unknown in that little world which
is supposed to contain all the men worth knowing. Francis Wade was a
man of mark in his own coterie. Among artists, bric-a-brac sellers,
antiquarians, and men of letters he was known as a patron and man
of taste. His bankers and his lawyers knew him to be of independent
fortune, but as he neither mixed in politics, "went into society",
betted, or speculated in merchandise, there were several large sections
of the community who had never heard his name. Many respectable
money-lenders would have required "further information" before they
would discount his bills; and "clubmen" in general--save, perhaps,
those ancient quidnuncs who know everybody, from Adam downwards--had but
little acquaintance with him. The advent of Mr. Richard Devine--a coarse
person of unlimited means--had therefore chief influence upon that
sinister circle of male and female rogues who form the "half-world".
They began to inquire concerning his antecedents, and, failing
satisfactory information, to invent lies concerning him. It was
generally believed that he was a black sheep, a man whose family kept
him out of the way, but who was, in a pecuniary sense, "good" for a
considerable sum.

Thus taken upon trust, Mr. Richard Devine mixed in the very best of
bad society, and had no lack of agreeable friends to help him to spend
money. So