t forever."

"Is there a crime involved?"

"I do not think there is unless I am the criminal."

Jack Alvarez gave a start as the old banker by implication accused
himself of being a criminal.

"I cannot agree, sir, to hold as a secret a crime which in justice
should be exposed."

The banker laughed, and said:

"That is a straight remark and in full accord with the character that
was given you as a straightforward, honorable young man. I can say that
my crime is not a punishable one, and yet I feel that I am deserving of
censure. You may think so also, but I will say this much: I will pay a
large sum of money to rectify. What I say as concerns myself is a case
of inexcusable negligence."

"That is your only crime?"

"I feel so."

"Then, sir, you can state the case to me and rely upon my maintaining
your secret."

The banker meditated a few moments and then said:

"Forty years ago I was a comparatively poor man; I had just started in
the banking business and I was having a hard time to make both ends
meet, as I had been a clerk and was starting out on my own hook with a
very small capital. The business in which I was engaged at that time
under the old emigration laws is not possible now--I mean the
transactions in which I made the best profits. It was a legitimate
business, and I know several bankers who from the same beginning
afterward became large financial concerns. Yes, I was successful myself,
but, as stated, I was doing a small business and thankful to make
fifteen or twenty dollars on a deal; and one rainy day--a dark, dismal
day--I was seated in my office alone, when a man entered--a singular
appearing man--and demanded if my name was Richard Townsend. I replied
that my name was Richard Townsend; he then asked me if I was born and
raised in a certain town in Massachusetts. I told him that I had been
born in Massachusetts in the town named. He asked me about my father and
mother, named them by their given names, and named them correctly. I
made an affirmative answer to all his questions, and then he said:

"'You are the right man, I have made no mistake,' and then added:

"'Here is a certified draft on London for sixty thousand dollars; here
are securities to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars;
here are other securities of a cash value of sixty-five thousand
dollars; here is a draft accepted by a London firm of solicitors for
fifty thousand pounds, which is to be held in trust un