edside or the hanging electrolier which attracted T. B.'s
attention; rather his eyes fell instantly upon the man on the bed.

A man with an odd yellow face, who, with his steady unwinking eyes might
have been a figure of wax save for the regular rise and fall of his
breast, and the spasmodic twitching of his lips. T. B. judged him to be
somewhere in the neighbourhood of seventy, and, if anything, older. His
face was without expression; his eyes, which turned upon the intruder,
were bright and beady.

"This is Mr. Moole," said the suave secretary. "I am afraid if you talk
to him you will get little in the way of information."

T. B. stepped to the side of the bed and looked down. He nodded his head
in greeting, but the other made no response.

"How are you, Mr. Moole?" said T. B. gently. "I have come down from
London to see you."

There was still no response from the shrunken figure under the
bedclothes.

"What is your name?" asked T. B. after a while.

For an instant a gleam of intelligence came to the eyes of the wreck.
His mouth opened tremulously and a husky voice answered him.

"Jim Moole," it croaked, "poor old Jim Moole; ain't done nobody harm."

Then his eyes turned fearfully to the man at T. B.'s side; the old lips
came tightly together and no further encouragement from T. B. could make
him speak again.

A little later T. B. was ushered out of the room.

"You agree with me," said the doctor smoothly, "Mr. Moole is not in a
position to carry on a very long conversation."

T. B. nodded.

"I quite agree," he said, pleasantly. "An American millionaire--Mr.
Moole--is he not?"

Dr. Fall inclined his head. His black eyes never left T. B.'s face.

"An American millionaire," he repeated.

"He does not talk like an American," said T. B.; "even making allowances
that one must for his mental condition, there is no inducement to
accept the phenomenon."

"Which phenomenon?" asked the other, quickly.

"That which causes an American millionaire, a man probably of some
refinement and education, at any rate of some lingual characteristics,
to talk like a Somerset farm labourer."

"What do you mean?" asked the other harshly.

"Just what I say," said T. B. Smith; "he has the burr of a man who has
been brought up in Somerset. He is obviously one who has had very little
education. My impression of him does not coincide with your
description."

"I think, Mr. Smith," said the other, quietly, "that you have ha