usand, five hundred
pounds sterling, representing a sum received by him from you, to
be administered on conditions which, after reconsidering them,
he finds himself unable to accept.

"Sir Roderick instructs us that you will draw on us at your
convenience for any sum or sums under this cover. This, of
course, pending notification of your wish that we should
transfer the account elsewhere.

"Acting on our client's further instructions, we hereby
enclose in registered envelope circular notes value 100 pounds
sterling. Kindly acknowledge receipt and oblige."

"Yours faithfully,"
"B. Norgate,"
"for Wiseman and Norgate,"
"Solicitors."
"To"
"J. Foe, Esq., DSc.,"
"Grand Hotel,"
"Biarritz."

Jimmy looked me straight, and asked, "Is that letter posted?"

"It is," I answered. "I told Norgate that, as a matter of honour,
Jack's letter ought to be answered promptly. That's why I lost no
time this morning. Not being quite certain of the earliest post to
France, he made sure by sending off the office-boy straight to
St. Martin's-le-Grand."

"Then no taxi will avail us," groaned Jimmy, "and I must call for a
liqueur brandy instead. . . . Oh, Otty--you must forgive the old
feud: but why _did_ your parents send you to Cambridge? Mine sent me
to a place where I had at least to sweat up forty pages or so of a
fellow called Plato. Not being able to translate him, I got him more
or less by heart. Here's the argument, then. . . . Supposing a
friend makes a deposit with you, that's a debt, eh? Of course it is.
But suppose it's a deposit of arms, or of money to buy arms, and he
comes to you and asks for it when he's not in his right senses, and
you know he's not, and he'll--like as not--play the devil with that
deposit, if you restore it. What then?"

"If I thought that Farrell was in danger," I mused; "that's to say,
in any immediate danger--"

"Rats!" said Jimmy contemptuously. "Farrell's a third party.
Why drag in a third party? The Professor's _your_ friend; and he's
made a deposit with you: and you don't need to think of anyone but
him. For he's _mad_. . . . Now, come along to the smoking-room,
where I've ordered them to take the coffee, and where I'll give you
ten minutes to pull up your socks and