I may not be able to do much, I believe I can do something to
help you on your road. In the first place I would carry this, whether in
an inside pocket or in my shoe." And he passed me a bundle of
bank-notes.

"No harm in that," said I, at once concealing them.

"In the second place," he resumed, "it is a great way from here to where
your uncle lives--Amersham Place, not far from Dunstable; you have a
great part of Britain to get through; and for the first stages, I must
leave you to your own luck and ingenuity. I have no acquaintance here in
Scotland, or at least" (with a grimace) "no dishonest ones. But further
to the south, about Wakefield, I am told there is a gentleman called
Burchell Fenn, who is not so particular as some others, and might be
willing to give you a cast forward. In fact, sir, I believe it's the
man's trade: a piece of knowledge that burns my mouth. But that is what
you get by meddling with rogues; and perhaps the biggest rogue now
extant, M. de Saint-Yves, is your cousin, M. Alain."

"If this be a man of my cousin's," I observed, "I am perhaps better to
keep clear of him?"

"It was through some paper of your cousin's that we came across his
trail," replied the lawyer. "But I am inclined to think, so far as
anything is safe in such a nasty business, you might apply to the man
Fenn. You might even, I think, use the Viscount's name; and the little
trick of family resemblance might come in. How, for instance, if you
were to call yourself his brother?"

"It might be done," said I. "But look here a moment. You propose to me a
very difficult game: I have apparently a devil of an opponent in my
cousin; and, being a prisoner of war, I can scarcely be said to hold
good cards. For what stakes, then, am I playing?"

"They are very large," said he. "Your great-uncle is immensely
rich--immensely rich. He was wise in time; he smelt the Revolution long
before; sold all that he could, and had all that was movable transported
to England through my firm. There are considerable estates in England;
Amersham Place itself is very fine; and he has much money, wisely
invested. He lives, indeed, like a prince. And of what use is it to him?
He has lost all that was worth living for--his family, his country; he
has seen his king and queen murdered; he has seen all these miseries and
infamies," pursued the lawyer, with a rising inflection and a
heightening colour; and then broke suddenly off,--"In short, sir, he has
see