uavely, pointing to a chair. "Maunders,
you can go."

Walter Hine turned quickly, as though he would have preferred Maunders to
stay, but he let him go. Mr. Jarvice shut the door carefully, and,
walking across the room, stood over his visitor with his hands in his
pockets, and renewed his scrutiny. Walter Hine grew uncomfortable, and
blurted out with a cockney twang--

"Maunders told me that if I came to see you it might be to my advantage."

"I think it will," replied Mr. Jarvice. "Have you seen this
morning's paper?"

"On'y the 'Sportsman'."

"Then you have probably not noticed that your cousin, John Lattery, has
been killed in the Alps." He handed his newspaper to Hine, who glanced at
it indifferently.

"Well, how does that affect me?" he asked.

"It leaves you the only heir to your uncle, Mr. Joseph Hine, wine-grower
at Macon, who, I believe, is a millionaire. Joseph Hine is domiciled in
France, and must by French law leave a certain portion of his property to
his relations, in other words, to you. I have taken some trouble to go
into the matter, Mr. Hine, and I find that your share must at the very
least amount to two hundred thousand pounds."

"I know all about that," Hine interrupted. "But as the old brute won't
acknowledge me and may live another twenty years, it's not much use
to me now."

"Well," said Mr. Jarvice, smiling suavely, "my young friend, that is
where I come in."

Walter Hine looked up in surprise. Suspicion followed quickly upon
the surprise.

"Oh, on purely business terms, of course," said Jarvice. He took a seat
and resumed gaily. "Now I am by profession--what would you guess? I am a
money-lender. Luckily for many people I have money, and I lend it--I lend
it upon very easy terms. I make no secret of my calling, Mr. Hine. On the
contrary, I glory in it. It gives me an opportunity of doing a great deal
of good in a quiet way. If I were to show you my books you would realize
that many famous estates are only kept going through my assistance; and
thus many a farm laborer owes his daily bread to me and never knows his
debt. Why should I conceal it?"

Mr. Jarvice turned toward his visitor with his hands outspread. Then his
voice dropped.

"There is only one thing I hide, and that, Mr. Hine, is the easiness of
the terms on which I advance my loans. I must hide that. I should have
all my profession against me were it known. But you shall know it, Mr.
Hine." He leaned forward and patted