o his
conditions nevertheless. From that moment the result of the interview
was no longer in doubt. Moody was directed to send in his accounts. The
accounts having been examined, and found to be scrupulously correct, he
declined accepting the balance of salary that was offered to him. The
next day he left Lady Lydiard's service.

On the tenth of the month her Ladyship received a letter from her
nephew.

The health of Felix had not improved. He had made up his mind to go
abroad again towards the end of the month. In the meantime, he had
written to his friend in Paris, and he had the pleasure of forwarding an
answer. The letter inclosed announced that the lost five-hundred-pound
note had been made the subject of careful inquiry in Paris. It had not
been traced. The French police offered to send to London one of their
best men, well acquainted with the English language, if Lady Lydiard was
desirous of employing him. He would be perfectly willing to act with an
English officer in conducting the investigation, should it be thought
necessary. Mr. Troy being consulted as to the expediency of accepting
this proposal, objected to the pecuniary terms demanded as being
extravagantly high. He suggested waiting a little before any reply was
sent to Paris; and he engaged meanwhile to consult a London solicitor
who had great experience in cases of theft, and whose advice might
enable them to dispense entirely with the services of the French police.

Being now a free man again, Moody was able to follow his own
inclinations in regard to the instructions which he had received from
Old Sharon.

The course that had been recommended to him was repellent to the
self-respect and the sense of delicacy which were among the inbred
virtues of Moody's character. He shrank from forcing himself as a friend
on Hardyman's valet: he recoiled from the idea of tempting the man to
steal a specimen of his master's handwriting. After some consideration,
he decided on applying to the agent who collected the rents at
Hardyman's London chambers. Being an old acquaintance of Moody's,
this person would certainly not hesitate to communicate the address of
Hardyman's bankers, if he knew it. The experiment, tried under these
favoring circumstances, proved perfectly successful. Moody proceeded to
Sharon's lodgings the same day, with the address of the bankers in his
pocketbook. The old vagabond, greatly amused by Moody's scruples,
saw plainly enough that, so lo