til collected.
Now, sir, my instructions are to deposit these with you. The drafts are
made payable to your order; the bonds are made over to you, and of
course the Bank of England notes are collectable at any time.'"

The banker rested a moment, and then resuming said:

"You may judge of my surprise and astonishment. I would have thought the
man crazy, but as he named the different amounts he laid the vouchers
before me, and at a glance I could see that they were all genuine. The
singular statements of the man and his final proposition almost took my
breath away, and it was fully a minute--and under the circumstances a
minute is a long time--before I could propound the question:

"'Why is this wealth consigned to me?'

"'I will explain.'

"'Do so.'

"'I am to give you a letter. These securities and the letter you are to
put away in your safe and forget that you have this trust for twenty
years. At the expiration of twenty years you are to open the letter and
you will receive full instructions.'

"'But in case of my death?' I said.

"'You are to leave a letter addressed to some one whom you can trust,
who will open the letter and carry out the trust. Here is the letter.'

"I was thoughtful for a long time. I did not understand it all. I was
appalled, for there was a convertible fortune committed to my care, and
I was to be its custodian for twenty years without knowing for whom I
held it in trust, and there were many contingencies that might occur.
The securities might fall in value, the institutions might go out of
existence, and there were dividends to be collected or they would
accumulate. I spoke of this, and the stranger said:

"'The individual who consigns this wealth to you has taken all these
possibilities into consideration. He desires the dividends to
accumulate, and will take the chances also of the winding up of the
institutions. You will accept the trust, and I am to pay you in advance
ten thousand dollars for so doing. I have the money here in good current
bills, and here is the letter of instructions to be opened in twenty
years. Now, sir, will you accept the trust?'

"'Is this honest money, and am I assured that I am not becoming the
custodian of stolen funds?'

"'I will swear that it is honest money, and I will also sign a letter to
you that if you discover at the end of twenty years when you have opened
the letter that all is not fair and square you can make such disposal of
the money as