care of it. Have you got
all that clear?'

"I repeated the instructions. I asked if I should return from Paris
after handing over the wallet. 'As soon as you like,' he said. 'And mind
this--whatever happens, don't communicate with me at any stage of the
journey. If you don't get the message in Paris at once, just wait until
you do--days, if necessary. But not a line of any sort to me.
Understand? Now get ready as quick as you can. I'll go with you in the
car a little way. Hurry!'

"That is, so far as I can remember, the exact substance of what
Manderson said to me that night. I went to my room, changed into day
clothes, and hastily threw a few necessaries into a kit-bag. My mind was
in a whirl, not so much at the nature of the business as at the
suddenness of it. I think I remember telling you the last time we
met"--he turned to Trent--"that Manderson had rather a fondness for
doing things in a story-book style. Other things being equal, he
delighted in a bit of mystification and melodrama, and I told myself
that this was Manderson all over. I hurried downstairs with my bag and
rejoined him in the library. He handed me a stout leather letter-case,
about eight inches by six, fastened with a strap with a lock on it. I
could just squeeze it into my side-pocket. Then I went to get out the
car from the garage behind the house.

"As I was bringing it round to the front a disconcerting thought struck
me. I remembered that I had only a few shillings in my pocket.

"For some time past I had been keeping myself very short of cash, and
for this reason--which I tell you because it is a vital point, as you
will see in a minute. I was living temporarily on borrowed money. I had
always been careless about money while I was with Manderson, and being a
gregarious animal I had made many friends, most of them belonging to a
New York set that had little to do but get rid of the large incomes
given them by their parents. Still, I was very well paid, and I was too
busy even to attempt to go very far with them in that amusing
occupation. I was still well on the right side of the ledger until I
began, merely out of curiosity, to play at speculation. It's a very old
story--particularly in Wall Street. I thought it was easy; I was lucky
at first; I would always be prudent--and so on. Then came the day when I
went out of my depth. In one week I was separated from my roll, as
Bunner expressed it when I told him; and I owed money, too. I had h