se and would like to buy him, I told Jim that I was quite
willing to sell at a fair price.

"And what might you consider a fair price, if it is a fair question?"
asked the man.

"A hundred guineas," I answered; for, as I knew that Mr. Fortescue would
not "look at a horse," as Tawney put it, under that figure, it would have
been useless to ask less.

"Very well, sir. I will speak to my master, and let you know."

Ranger, as I called the horse, was a purchase of Alston's. Liking his
looks (though Bertie was really a very indifferent judge), he had bought
him out of a hansom-cab for forty pounds, and after a little "schooling,"
the creature took to jumping as naturally as a duck takes to water. Sixty
pounds may seem rather an unconscionable profit, but considering that
Ranger was quite sound and up to weight, I don't think a hundred guineas
was too much. A dealer would have asked a hundred and fifty.

At any rate, Mr. Fortescue did not think it too much, for Rawlings
presently brought me word that his master would take the horse at the
price I had named, if I could warrant him sound.

"In that case it is a bargain," I said, "for I can warrant him sound."

"All right, sir. I'll send one of the grooms over to your place for him
to-morrow."

Shortly afterward I fell in with Keyworth, and as a matter of course we
talked about Mr. Fortescue.

"Do you know anything about him?" I asked.

"Not much. I believe he is rich--and respectable."

"That is pretty evident, I think."

"I am not sure. A man who spends a good deal of money is presumably rich;
but it by no means follows that he is respectable. There are such people
in the world as successful rogues and wealthy swindlers. Not that I think
Mr. Fortescue is either one or the other. I learned, from the check he
sent me for his subscription, who his bankers are, and through a friend of
mine, who is intimate with one of the directors, I got a confidential
report about him. It does not amount to much; but it is satisfactory so
far as it goes. They say he is a man of large fortune, and, as they
believe, highly respectable."

"Is that all?"

"All there was in the report. But Tomlinson--that's my friend--has heard
that he has spent the greater part of his life abroad, and that he made
his money in South America."

The mention of South America interested me, for I had made voyages both to
Rio de Janeiro and several places on the Spanish Main.

"South America is rather