der the lining, when he woke. The original
envelope and inclosures (with a statement of circumstances signed by my
assistant and myself) have been secured under another cover, sealed with
my own seal. I have done my best to discover Mr. Bernard Winterfield. He
appears not to live in London. At least I failed to find his name in the
Directory. I wrote next, mentioning what had happened, to the English
gentleman to whom I send reports of the lad's health. He couldn't help
me. A second letter to the French ladies only produced the same result.
I own I should be glad to get rid of my responsibility on honorable
terms."

All this was said in the boy's presence. He lay listening to it as if it
had been a story told of some one else. I could not resist the useless
desire to question him. Not speaking French myself (although I can read
the language), I asked Doctor Wybrow and his friend to interpret for me.

My questions led to nothing. The French boy knew no more about the
stolen envelope than I did.

There was no discoverable motive, mind, for suspecting him of
imposing on us. When I said, "Perhaps you stole it?" he answered quite
composedly, "Very likely; they tell me I have been mad; I don't remember
it myself; but mad people do strange things." I tried him again. "Or,
perhaps, you took it away out of mischief?" "Yes." "And you broke the
seal, and looked at the papers?" "I dare say." "And then you kept them
hidden, thinking they might be of some use to you? Or perhaps feeling
ashamed of what you had done, and meaning to restore them if you got
the opportunity?" "You know best, sir." The same result followed when we
tried to find out where he had been, and what people had taken care of
him, during his last vagrant escape from home. It was a new revelation
to him that he had been anywhere. With evident interest, he applied to
us to tell him where he had wandered to, and what people he had seen!

So our last attempts at enlightenment ended. We came to the final
question of how to place the papers, with the least possible loss of
time, in Mr. Winterfield's hands.

His absence in Paris having been mentioned, I stated plainly my own
position toward him at the present time.

"Mr. Winterfield has made an appointment with me to call at his hotel,
on his return to London," I said. "I shall probably be the first
friend who sees him. If you will trust me with your sealed packet, in
consideration of these circumstances, I will giv