the hotel, I had the hope that your
lordship might be able to direct me to our friend."

"I am sorry to say I know no more than you do," Lord Loring replied.
"Romayne's present address is a secret confided to his bankers, and to
no one else. I will give you their names, if you wish to write to him."

Major Hynd hesitated. "I am not quite sure that it would be discreet to
write to him, under the circumstances."

Lady Loring could no longer keep silence. "Is it possible, Major Hynd,
to tell us what the circumstances are?" she asked. "I am almost as old a
friend of Romayne as my husband--and I am very anxious about him."

The Major looked embarrassed. "I can hardly answer your ladyship," he
said, "without reviving painful recollections--"

Lady Loring's impatience interrupted the Major's apologies. "Do you mean
the duel?" she inquired.

Lord Loring interposed. "I should tell you, Major Hynd, that Lady Loring
is as well informed as I am of what happened at Boulogne, and of the
deplorable result, so far as Romayne is concerned. If you still wish
to speak to me privately, I will ask you to accompany me into the next
room."

Major Hynd's embarrassment vanished. "After what you tell me," he said,
"I hope to be favored with Lady Loring's advice. You both know that
Romayne fought the fatal duel with a son of the French General who had
challenged him. When we returned to England, we heard that the
General and his family had been driven away from Boulogne by pecuniary
difficulties. Romayne, against my advice, wrote to the surgeon who had
been present at the duel, desiring that the General's place of retreat
might be discovered, and expressing his wish to assist the family
anonymously, as their Unknown Friend. The motive, of course, was, in his
own words, 'to make some little atonement to the poor people whom he had
wronged.' I thought it a rash proceeding at the time; and I am confirmed
in my opinion by a letter from the surgeon, received yesterday. Will you
kindly read it to Lady Loring?"

He handed the letter to Lord Loring. Translated from the French, it ran
as follows:

"SIR--I am at last able to answer Mr. Romayne's letter definitely,
with the courteous assistance of the French Consul in London, to whom I
applied when other means of investigation had produced no result.

"A week since the General died, circumstances connected with the
burial expenses informed the Consul that he had taken refuge from his
credit