form you of the conditions
attached to your receipt of it. Meantime, the stairs are dark, and I
will give you a light.'

'No, thank you,' he said. 'I won't trouble my sisters until I've heard
what you have to say, I'll call again in an hour's time.'

He went away, closing the door behind him. I, sitting there, and
listening to his footsteps, heard him speak to somebody on the stairs,
and heard two sets of footsteps blunder down the ill-lighted staircase
together. I took the papers Mr. Gregory had left behind him and looked
them through. They were short and simple, and I mastered them in five
minutes. Then I went back to my painting and worked until I heard a
knock at the door and admitted my new acquaintance. He had a companion
with him, and, since I must do him justice, I must say that his
companion was sevenfold worse than he. He was a countryman of my own, as
I knew by his face and voice. They had both been drinking.

'You know my name, it seems,' said young Grammont, 'and I shall be glad
to know yours.'

I was decided that nobody but our two selves should be present when I
spoke to him, lest any slip of mine before a witness should blunder the
matter I had in charge.

'My business with you, Mr. Grammont, is of a private nature, and I
cannot discuss it in the presence of a third party.' I was plain and
outspoken, because this kind of man does not comprehend innuendo.

'This is a chum of mine,' he answered. 'He's quite welcome to hear
anything about _me_.'

'Pardon me, sir,' I told him quietly; 'but I can only discuss this
matter in private.'

'All right,' he hiccoughed. 'You'd better slide, Jack. Evado, you
blackguard! Hidi! git! chabouk!'

'You are merry, my friend,' said my unwholesome countryman, who was very
drunk indeed. 'But I am not a Hamal that you speak to me so.'

'There's half-a-crown,' said young Grammont, throwing a coin on the
carpet. 'Wait at the Red Lion. It's all right.'

My unwholesome countryman took himself out of the room with the
half-crown, and went downstairs in a series of dangerous slides and
tumbles.

'Now, then,' said my client, throwing himself insolently upon the sofa
and lighting a pipe. 'You can say what you have; to say, and get it over
as soon as you like.'

One is not angry with this kind of person. 'If you are in a fit
condition to listen, sir, you may know all about the matter in five
minutes. Your father just before his death invested a large sum of
money. The r