t one which did not surprise
me as much as you might think. I knew that he was a solicitor in London.
He said that only a few days before this interview a lady friend of his
had privately asked his advice. She was a Mrs. Lester, the widow of a
man--an old friend of Hollis's--who in his time made a very big fortune.
They had an only son, a lad who went into the Army, and into a crack
cavalry regiment. The father made his son a handsome, but not sufficient
allowance--the son, finding it impossible to get it increased, had
recourse, after he was of age, to a London money-lender, named Godwin
Markham, of Conduit Street, from whom, in course of time, he borrowed
some seven or eight thousand pounds. Old Lester died--instead of leaving
a handsome fortune to the son, he left every penny he had to his wife.
The lad was pressed for repayment--Markham claimed some fifteen or
sixteen thousand. Young Lester was obliged to tell his mother. She urged
him to make terms--for cash. Markham would not abate a penny of his
claim. So Mrs. Lester called in Frederick Hollis and asked his advice.
At his suggestion she gave him a cheque for ten thousand pounds: he was
to see Markham and endeavour to get a settlement for that sum.

"The day before he came down to Scarnham--Friday--Hollis did two things.
He got young Lester to come up to town and tell him the exact
particulars of his financial dealings with Godwin Markham. Primed with
these, and knowing that the demand was extortionate, he went, alone, to
Markham's office in Conduit Street. Markham was away, but Hollis saw the
manager, a man named Stipp. He saw something more, too. On Stipp's
mantelpiece he saw a portrait which he recognized immediately as one of
Gabriel Chestermarke.

"Now, you want to know how Hollis knew Gabriel Chestermarke. In this
way: I told you just now that Hollis and I had only met once since our
school-days. Some few years ago--I think the year before you came into
the bank, Neale--Hollis came up North on a holiday. He was a bit of an
archaeologist; he was looking round the old towns, and he took Scarnham
in his itinerary. Knowing that an old schoolmate of his was manager at
Chestermarke's Bank in Scarnham, he called in to see me. He and I
lunched together at the Scarnham Arms. I showed him round the town a
bit, after bank hours. And as we were standing in the upper-room window
of the Arms, Gabriel Chestermarke came out of the bank and stood talking
to some person in t