enly, 'have you done anything wrong in India, that you come
home in this way?'

I was sorry the moment I had spoken, for I knew by the look in his eyes
that my suspicion was unjust.

'Not that I know of,' he replied. 'I am simply a fellow who can't
remember. You don't know how I have struggled to recall the past, and
what a weary business it is.'

I must confess I felt interested in him. That he had been educated as
a gentleman was evident from every word he spoke, and in spite of his
motley garb, no one would take him for an ordinary man. I wanted to
know more about him, and to look behind the curtain which hid his past
from him.

'I'm afraid I must be an awful nuisance to you,' he said. 'I'm taking
up a lot of your time, and doubtless you have your affairs to attend
to.'

'No, I'm at a loose end just now. If you like, I'll help you to get
some other clothes, and then you'll feel more comfortable.'

'It would be awfully good of you if you would.'

Two hours later, he sat with me in the dining-room of a hotel which
faced The Hoe. His nondescript garments were discarded, and he was now
clothed in decent British attire. That he had a good upbringing, and
was accustomed to the polite forms of society, was more than ever
evidenced while we were together at the hotel. There was no suggestion
of awkwardness in his movements, and everything he did betrayed the
fact that he had been accustomed to the habits and associations of an
English gentleman.

After dinner, we went for a walk on The Hoe.

'It would be really ever so much easier to talk to you,' I said with a
laugh, 'if you had a name. Have you no remembrance of what you were
called?'

'Not the slightest. In a vague way I know I am an Englishman, and
that's about all. Months ago I seemed to awake out of a deep sleep,
and I realized that I was in India. By a kind of intuition, I found my
way to Bombay, and hearing that a boat was immediately starting for
England, I came by it. It was by the merest chance that I was able to
come. I had walked a good way, and was foot-sore. I had a bathe in a
pond by the roadside, and on examining a pocket inside my vest I found
several L5 notes.'

'And you knew their value?' I asked.

'Oh, yes, perfectly,' he replied.

'Did you not realize that they might not belong to you?'

'No, I was perfectly sure that they belonged to me, and that I had put
them there before I lost my memory, I can't give you any reaso