iding-place; quite naturally he knew Mrs. Dillon, how
her son had gone and never been heard of: and he knew it would be a
great thing for her to have a son with an income like Endicott's. The
next question is: how many people know at this moment who Dillon really
is?"

"Just two, sir. He's a fox ... they're three foxes ... Monsignor, Anne
Dillon, and Arthur himself. I know, for I watched 'em all, his uncle,
his friends, his old chums ... the fellows he played with before he ran
away ... and no one knows but the two that had to know ... sly Anne and
smooth Monsignor. They made the money that I wasn't smart enough to get
hold of."

"Then the next question is: is it worth while to make inquiries among
the Irish, his friends and neighbors, the people that knew the real
Dillon?"

"You won't find out any more than I've told you, but you may prove how
little reason they have for accepting him as the boy that ran away."

"After that it would be necessary to search California."

"Poor Dick," she interrupted with compassion, smoothing his beard. "You
are really losing your old cleverness. Search California! Can't you see
yet the wonderful 'cuteness of this man, Endicott? He settled all that
before he wrote the letter to Anne Dillon, saying that her son was
coming home. He found out the career of Arthur Dillon in California. If
he found that runaway he sent him off to Australia with a lump of money,
to keep out of sight for twenty years. Did the scamp need much
persuading? I reckon not. He had been doing it for nothing ten years.
Or, perhaps the boy was dead: then he had only to make the proper
connections with his history up to the time of his death. Or he may have
disappeared forever, and that made the matter all the simpler for
Endicott. Oh, you're not clever, Dick," and she kissed him to sweeten
the bitterness of the opinion.

"I'm not convinced," he said cheerfully. "Then tell me what to do."

"I don't know myself. Endicott took his money with him. Where does
Arthur Dillon keep his money? How did it get there? Where was it kept
before that? How is he spending it just now? Does he talk in his sleep?
Are there any mementoes of his past in his private boxes? Could he be
surprised into admissions of his real character by some trick, such as
bringing him face to face on a sudden with Sonia? Wouldn't that be worth
seeing? Just like the end of a drama. You know the marks on Endicott's
body, birthmarks and the like ... are th