the
regular channel for collection; they were paid and I never received any
word from them."

"Didn't your first detective mention them?"

"He did, but I could not remember the names of the drawers of the
drafts. Remember, twenty-five years had elapsed."

"Did you make no record of the names?"

"If I did the record was lost."

"And there you lost a clue."

"That is true, I can see now."

"But the securities--did they not contain a name?"

"Certainly, but I have forgotten those names also. Strangely enough,
they were indorsed or assigned blank by the London solicitors, and all I
had to do was fill in our name and get new certificates; I did so."

"And you claim a great memory?"

"Yes."

"And you do not remember any of the names on those papers?"

"No, you see, I was excited; I may have observed the names at the time,
but they passed from my memory. I disposed of them immediately and the
matter rested for twenty-five years. It was evident that they had been
indorsed in blank on purpose for some one to fill in the name and
dispose of them at will. I admit it was a strange oversight for me not
to have made a record of the names--indeed, it is possible I did, and
that I filed them away with the letter, and if I did so they were
destroyed with the letter."

"It does appear," said Jack, "that the fates all combined to hide the
identity of the real heirs to that property."

"Yes, but now I recall through your aid that the strange man who
deposited this fortune with me did several times speak of possible
claimants, and I remember that in the letter he gave me he bade me use
my own judgment should any such claimants present themselves."

"And that letter of instructions?"

"It was destroyed along with the other memoranda."

"Now give me a general description of the appearance of the man who
deposited the fortune with you."

Mr. Townsend did so, and his description was minute, and as afterward
appeared very accurate, and Jack made a mental note of the description,
and after some further talk, distinguished by the same singular
brightness which had enabled him to ascertain as much as he did in order
to establish some slight indices whereon to base a "shadow," he bade Mr.
Townsend adieu, promising to call upon him as soon as he had anything
definite to report.

Once alone as he walked through the streets going to his lodgings, Jack
meditated deeply over the strange narrative he had listened to, and he
mutt