k, never for a moment that he was tampering with each one as it came.
That, however, is what has been going on all this year. I have the
certified accounts to prove it, and Royle must have bolted just when he
knew the mail would reach me where I've been abroad. I don't wonder,
either; he's been faking every statement for the last six months!"

"But not before?" cried Delavoye, as though it mattered.

Coysh turned to him with puzzled eyes.

"No; that's the funny part of it," said he. "You'd think a man who went
so wrong--hundreds, in these few months--could never have been quite
straight. But not a bit of it. I've got the accounts; they were as right
as rain till this last spring."

"I knew it!" exclaimed Delavoye in wild excitement.

"May I ask what you knew?"

Coysh was staring, as well he might.

"Only that the whole mischief must have happened since these people came
here to live!"

"Do you suggest that they've been living beyond their means?"

"I shouldn't be surprised," said Delavoye, as readily as though nothing
else had been in his mind.

"Well, and I should say you were right," rejoined the engineer, "if it
wasn't for the funniest part of all. When a straight man goes off the
rails, there's generally some tremendous cause; but one of the
surprises of this case, as my banker has managed to ascertain, is that
Abercromby Royle is in a position to repay every penny. He has more than
enough to do it, lying idle in his bank; so there was no apparent motive
for the crime, and I for my part am prepared to treat it as a sudden
aberration."

"Exactly!" cried Delavoye, as though he were the missing man's oldest
friend and more eager than either of us to find excuses for him.

"Otherwise," continued Coysh, "I wouldn't have taken you gentlemen into
my confidence. But the plain fact is that I'm prepared to condone the
felony at my own risk in return for immediate and complete restitution."
He turned his attention entirely to me. "Now, Royle can't make good
unless you help him by helping me to find him. I won't be hard on him if
you do, I promise you! Not a dozen men in England shall ever know. But
if I have to hunt for him it'll be with detectives and a warrant, and
the fat'll be in the fire for all the world to smell!"

What could I do but give in after that? I had not promised to keep any
secrets, and it was clearly in the runaway's interests to disclose his
destination on the conditions laid down. Of his vic