y, neither. Mrs Bosenna--"

'Bias started and laid down his pipe. "Drop that!" he interjected with
a growl.

"Nay, you don't frighten _me_," answered Cai valiantly. "We're goin' to
talk a lot of Mrs Bosenna, afore we've done. Present point is, she gave
you a hundred pound, to invest for her. She gave me the like."

"What!" 'Bias clutched both arms of his chair in the act of rising.
But Cai held up a hand.

"Steady! She gave me the like. . . . You handed the money over to
Rogers, and close on fifteen per cent he was makin' on it--in the
_Saltypool_."

"Who--who told you?"

"Wait! I did the like. . . . Seven pounds eight-and-four was my
dividend, whatever yours may have been--eh? You may call it a--a
coincidence, 'Bias Hunken: but some would say as our minds worked on the
same lines even when--even when--" Cai seemed to swallow something in
his throat. "Anyhow, the money's gone, and we'll have to make it good."

"Well, I should hope so!"

"I'll see to _that_, 'Bias--whatever happens."

"So will I, o' course." 'Bias turned to refill his pipe.

Cai was watching him narrowly. "Happen that mightn't be none too easy,"
he suggested.

"Why so?"

"Heark'n to me now: I got something more serious to tell. The Lord send
we may be mistaken, but--supposin' as Rogers has played the rogue?"

'Bias, not at all discomposed, went on filling his pipe. "I see what
you're drivin' at," said he. "'Tis the same tale Philp was chantin' just
now, over the wall; how that Rogers had lost his own money and ours as
well, and 'twas in everybody's mouth. Which I say to you what I said to
him: ''Tis the old story,' I says, 'let a man be down on his back, and
every cur'll fly at him.'"

"But suppose 'twas true? . . . Did Rogers ever show the bonds and papers
for your money?"

"'Course he did. Showed me every one as they came in, and seemed to
make a point of it. 'Made me count 'em over, some time back.
'Wouldn' let me off 'till I'd checked 'em, tied 'em up in a parcel,
docketed 'em, sealed 'em, and the Lord knows what beside. Very dry
work. I claimed a glass o' grog after it."

"And then you took 'em away?" asked Cai with a sudden hope.

"Not I. For one thing, they're vallyble, and I don't keep a safe.
I put 'em back in the old man's--top shelf--alongside o' yours."

Cai groaned. "They're missin' then!"

"Who told you?"

"The child--Fancy Tabb."

'Bias looked serious. "Why didn' she come to me, I wonder?"