ave known some whose charity extended
to the vermin on their own bodies."

Mrs. Wesley sat tapping the mahogany gently with her finger-tips.
"To my thinking, the key of this mystery, if there be one, lies at
Surat. My brother had powerful enemies: his letters make that clear.
We must inquire into _them_--their numbers and the particular grudge
they bore him--and also into the state of his mind. He was not the
sort of person to be kidnapped in open day."

--"By a Thames waterman, for instance, madam?" said Captain Bewes,
jocularly, but instantly changed his tone. "You suggest that he may
have disappeared on his own account? To avoid his enemies, you
mean?"

"As to his motives, sir, I say nothing: but it certainly looks to me
as if he had planned to give you the slip."

"Tut-tut!" exclaimed Matthew. "And left his money behind?
Not likely!"

"We have still his boxes to search--"

"Under power of attorney," Sam suggested. "We must see about getting
it to-morrow."

"Well, madam"--Captain Bewes knocked out his pipe, drained his glass,
and rose--"the boxes shall be delivered up as soon as you bring me
authority: and I trust, for my own sake as well as yours, the
contents will clear up this mystery for us. I shall be tied to my
ship for the next three days, possibly for another week--"

He was holding out his hand to Mrs. Wesley when the door opened
behind him, and Sally appeared.

"If you please," she announced, "there's a gentleman without, wishes
to see the company. He calls himself Mr. Wesley."

"It cannot be Charles?" Mrs. Wesley turned towards her son Sam.
"But Charles must be at Westminster and in bed these two hours!"

"Surely," said he.

"'Tis not young Master Charles, ma'am, nor anyone like him: but a
badger-faced old gentleman who snaps up a word before 'tis out of
your mouth."

"Show him in," commanded Matthew: and the words were scarcely out
before the visitor stood in the doorway. Mrs. Wesley recognised him
at once as the old gentleman who had stood beside her that morning
and watched the fight.

"Good evening, ma'am. I learned your address at Westminster: or, to
be precise, at the Reverend Samuel Wesley's. You are he, I
suppose?"--here he swung round upon Sam--"Your amiable wife told me I
should find you here: and so much the better, my visit being on
family business. Eh? What? I hope I'm not turning out this
gentleman?"--indicating Captain Bewes--"No? Well, if you were
leavin