all attention now--for once he was devoting all his faculties
to tense and absorbed concentration on what another man could tell,
leaving reflections and conclusions on what he heard until all had been
told.

"I brought him here," repeated Harker. "I told him I'd been retired
and was living here, as he saw, alone. I asked him no questions about
himself--I could see he was a well-dressed, apparently well-to-do man.
And presently he began to tell me about himself. He said that after he'd
finished his term he left England and for some time travelled in
Canada and the United States, and had gone then--on to New Zealand and
afterwards to Australia, where he'd settled down and begun speculating
in wool. I said I hoped he'd done well. Yes, he said, he'd done very
nicely--and then he gave me a quiet dig in the ribs. 'I'll tell you one
thing I've done, Harker,' he said. 'You were very polite and considerate
to me when I'd my trouble, so I don't mind telling you. I paid the
bank every penny of that money they lost through my foolishness at that
time--every penny, four years ago, with interest, and I've got their
receipt.' 'Delighted to hear it, Mr.--Is it the same name still?' I
said. 'My name ever since I left England,' he said, giving me a look,
'is Braden--John Braden.' 'Yes,' he went on, 'I paid 'em--though I
never had one penny of the money I was fool enough to take for the
time being--not one halfpenny!' 'Who had it, Mr. Braden?' I asked him,
thinking that he'd perhaps tell after all that time. 'Never mind, my
lad!' he answered. 'It'll come out--yet. Never mind that, now. I'll tell
you why I wanted to see you. The fact is, I've only been a few hours in
England, so to speak, but I'd thought of you, and wondered where I could
get hold of you--you're the only man of your profession I ever met, you
see,' he added, with a laugh. 'And I want a bit of help in that way.'
'Well, Mr. Braden,' I said, 'I've retired, but if it's an easy job--'
'It's one you can do, easy enough,' he said. 'It's just this--I met a
man in Australia who's extremely anxious to get some news of another
man, named Falkiner Wraye, who hails from Barthorpe, in Leicestershire.
I promised to make inquiries for him. Now, I have strong reasons why I
don't want to go near Barthorpe--Barthorpe has unpleasant memories and
associations for me, and I don't want to be seen there. But this thing's
got to be personal investigation--will you go here, for me? I'll make
it wo