James, enclosing a cheque in answer to a begging letter, but
otherwise he discouraged all attempts at intimacy. The old gentleman
kept entirely to himself, growing more reserved and secretive about his
affairs as the years passed. He saw absolutely no one and of recent
years had spent six months out of the twelve in Europe. He might have
been dead long ago for all that was seen of him.

But Jimmy did not worry. John's will was made, that he knew. Bascom
Cooley, his own friend and lawyer, had drawn it up and witnessed its
execution. He had it secure in his possession. If anything happened he
would be informed of it at once. So there was nothing to worry about.
All he had to do was to wait.

Meantime Jimmy, feeling the need of a companion, took to himself a wife.
The lady was the widow of a man named Chase, who had held high position
in one of the big insurance companies. The public investigations came
with their awkward disclosures, and Mr. Chase, unable to face the
limelight of publicity, conveniently succumbed to heart failure, leaving
to his relict a few thousand dollars and the responsibility of looking
after an eighteen-year-old son--a slangy, flippantly inclined youth
rejoicing in the euphonious name of Todhunter, but whom everyone, his
cronies and creditors both, knew as "Tod." Mrs. Chase, a stout,
vulgar-looking woman, with hair startlingly yellow and teeth obviously
false, met Mr. James Marsh at a dinner one night, and when, between
courses, the inevitable inheritance yarn was detailed to her by an
obliging neighbor, it at once flashed upon the widow that here was a man
whose acquaintance it might be worth her while to cultivate. She had
still a little money left out of the wreck of the defunct Chase's
estate, and this immediate cash asset, she shrewdly reflected, might
prove attractive to a man known to live up to every cent of his income,
but whose "prospects" were simply dazzling. That he had no money of his
own was no serious obstacle. Under the circumstances they could afford
to dip into her principal, and by the time that was exhausted, the event
which they both so devoutly desired could not fail to have happened.

The golden bait, thus adroitly hooked, soon caught the fish, and for the
next year or two Mr. James Marsh had all the ready cash he needed. At
the suggestion of the widow, who naturally was anxious to see in the
flesh the mysterious brother on whose state of health so much depended,
John was c