ld be
a matter of the greatest moment. Farrington had left no private debts.
Whatever plight the shareholders of the company might be in, he himself,
so far as his personal fortune was concerned, was certainly solvent.

T. B.'s inquiries had revealed, to his great astonishment, that the
girl's fortune was adequately secured. Much of the contents of the will,
which was to astonish at least three people that day, was known to T. B.
Smith, and he had pursued his investigations to the end of confirming
much which the dead millionaire had stated.

Presently, when Doris left the young man to go to the lawyer for a
little consultation, T. B. made his way across the room and sat down by
the side of Frank Doughton.

"You were a friend of Mr. Farrington's, were you not?" he asked.

Frank nodded.

"A great friend?"

"I hardly like to say that I was a great friend," said the other; "he
was very kind to me."

"In what way was he kind?" asked T. B. "You will forgive me for asking
these somewhat brutal questions, but as you know I have every reason to
be interested."

Frank smiled faintly.

"I do not think that you are particularly friendly disposed toward him,
Mr. Smith," he said; "in fact, I rather wonder that you are present,
after what happened at the theatre."

"After my saying that I wanted to arrest him," smiled T. B. "But why
not? Even millionaires get mixed up in curious illegal proceedings," he
said; "but I am rather curious to know what is the reason for Mr.
Farrington's affection and in what way he was kind to you."

Frank hesitated. He desired most of all to be loyal to the man who, with
all his faults, had treated him with such kindness.

"Well, for one thing," he said, "he gave me a jolly good commission, a
commission which might easily have brought me in a hundred thousand
pounds."

T. B.'s interest was awakened.

"What was that?" he asked.

In as few words as possible Frank told the story of the search for the
heir to the Tollington millions.

"Of course," he said, with an apologetic smile, "I was not the man for
the job--he should have given it to you. I am afraid I am not cut out
for a detective, but he was very keen on my taking the matter in hand."

T. B. bit his lips thoughtfully.

"I know something of the Tollington millions," he said; "they were left
by the timber king of America who died without issue, and whose heir or
heirs were supposed to be in this country. We have had communicatio