in this case. Still,
I am a little puzzled to account for his giving you the letter. Can you
add nothing in the way of explanation to what you have said?'

'I don't know that I can,' said Hyacinth.

'Will you tell me how you met my brother, and what he is doing now, or
where he is?'

'I do not think I should be justified in doing so.'

'Ah, well! I can understand that in certain circumstances Albert would
be very grateful to a man who would hold his tongue. He might be quite
willing to do you a good turn if you undertook to answer no questions
about him.'

He smiled as he spoke, a little grimly, but there was laughter lurking
in the corners of his eyes. A Puritan will sometimes smile in such a
way at the thought of a sinful situation, too solemn to be laughed
at openly, but appealing to a not entirely atrophied sense of humour.
Hyacinth felt reassured.

'Indeed,' he said, 'I made no promise of silence. It is only that--well,
I don't think----'

James Quinn waited patiently for the conclusion of the sentence, but
Hyacinth never arrived at it.

'In this letter,' he said at last, 'my brother asks me to give you the
place he lately held in my business. Now, I don't want to press you to
say anything you don't want to, but before we go further I must ask you
this, Were you implicated in the affair yourself?'

'I beg your pardon. I don't quite understand what you mean.'

'Well, I suppose that since my brother is anxious that you should hold
your tongue, he has done something that won't bear talking about. Were
you implicated in--in whatever the trouble was?'

'Certainly not,' said Hyacinth. 'In fact, it was on account of what you
speak of as "trouble" that I declined to have anything more to do with
your brother.'

'That is probably very much to your credit, and, in the light of my
brother's estimate of your character, I may say that I entirely believe
what you say. Am I to understand that you are an applicant for the post
in my business which Albert held, and which this letter tells me I may
consider vacant?'

'That is what brought me down here,' said Hyacinth.

'Have you any other recommendations or testimonials as to character to
show me?'

'No. But there are several people who would answer questions about me if
you wrote to them: Dr. Henry, of Trinity College, would, or Miss Augusta
Goold, or Father Moran, of Carrowkeel, in County Galway.'

'You have given me the most remarkable list of references I e