to make inquiries?"

"Naturally. With Captain Oliphant's assistance?"

"No. I'm not inclined to tell him anything at present. He has no idea
that Ratman is anything but an Indian acquaintance."

"My address will be `"Green Dragon," Oxford,'" said the tutor.

"By the way," said Roger--both men were talking in the forced tones
which belong to an unacknowledged estrangement--"Whether this matter is
right or not, I propose to write to Ratman and enclose him L10."

"Naturally," said the tutor.

"I am tied down, as you know, in the matter of my pocket-money, and
can't well spare it out of my present allowance. I want the trustees to
give me an extra allowance."

"In other words, you want your trustees to keep Mr Robert Ratman at the
rate of L250 a year. I shall agree to that the day that he satisfies me
he is Roger Ingleton."

"I expected you would refuse. I must ask Captain Oliphant."

"I'm afraid he will require my sanction to any such arrangement."

"What! Do you mean to say that I am at your mercy in a matter like
this?"

"I fear that is unhappily the case. I can resolve the matter by
resigning my tutorship."

Had it come to that? Roger glanced up with a scared look which for the
moment clouded out the vexation in his face.

"Excuse me, Armstrong. All this worry is bad for my temper. I'm afraid
I lost it."

"I can sympathise," said the tutor, "for I have lost mine. Good night."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

ROGER SEES A LITTLE TOO MUCH LIFE.

Captain Oliphant's motive for going to London was primarily to escape
for a while from the unearthly dullness of Maxfield. As long as the
prospect of a matrimonial alliance with Mrs Ingleton had been in view,
it had seemed to him good policy to submit to the infliction and remain
at his post. That vision was now unhappily past, and the good man felt
he deserved a change of scene and amusement. A further motive was to
evade a possible return of his dear friend Mr Ratman, whose abrupt
departure from Maxfield had both perplexed and relieved him. The second
of that gentleman's uncomfortable bills was falling due in a few days,
and as on the present occasion no lucky windfall had dropped in from an
American mayor, it seemed altogether a fitting occasion for dropping for
a season below the horizon.

When, however, Roger unexpectedly consented to accompany his guardian,
the visit assumed an altogether different aspect. The captain had long
desired to have h