to any particular
family, and he himself answered careless inquiries with a cryptic smile
which might have meant anything.

But with his return to London, after his brief absence, there was no
excuse for any hostess, even the most sceptical, in refusing to admit
him to social equality on the ground of poverty. The very day he
returned he acquired the lease of a house in Burlington Gardens,
purchased two motor-cars, paying cash down for an early delivery, gave
orders left and right for the enrichment of his person and his domicile,
and in forty-eight hours had established himself in a certain mode of
living which suggested that he had never known any other.

He had had his lesson and had profited thereby. He had experienced an
unpleasant fright, though he might not admit it to Dr. Fall and his
master; it was nevertheless a fact that, realizing as he did that he had
stood face to face with a particularly unpleasant death, he had been
seized by a panic which had destroyed his ordinary equilibrium.

"You may trust me, my friend," he muttered to himself, as he sorted over
the papers on his brand-new desk in his brand-new study, in a house
which was still redolent of the painter's art and presence. "You may
trust me just so long as I find it convenient for you to trust me, but
you may be sure that never again will I give you the benefit of my
presence in the Secret House."

He had come back with a large sum of money to carry out his employer's
plans. There were a hundred agents through the country, particulars of
whom Poltavo now had in his possession. Innocent agents, and guilty
agents; agents in high places and active agents in the servants' hall.
Undoubtedly _Gossip's Corner_ was a useful institution.

Farrington had not made a great deal of money from its sale; indeed, as
often as not, it showed a dead loss every year. But he paid well for
contributions which were sent to him, and offered a price, which
exceeded the standard rate of pay, for such paragraphs as were
acceptable.

Men and women, with a malicious desire to score off some enemy, would
send him items which the newspapers would publish if they concerned
somebody who might not be bled. Many of these facts in an amended form
were, in fact, printed.

But more often than not the paragraphs and articles which came to the
unknown editor dealt with scandal which it was impossible to put into
print. Nevertheless, the informant would be rewarded. In some far-awa