behalf of his
colleagues.

"We wrote to you, Mr. Fairfax," he said, "in order to find out whether
you could help us concerning the difficulty in which we find ourselves
placed. You of course are aware of the serious trouble the bank has
experienced, and of the terrible consequences which have resulted
therefrom?"

I admitted that I was quite conversant with it, and waited to hear what
he would have to say next.

"As a matter of fact," he continued, "we have sent for you to know
whether you can offer us any assistance in our hour of difficulty? Pray
take a chair, and let us talk the matter over and see what conclusion we
can arrive at."

I seated myself, and we discussed the affair to such good purpose that,
when I left the Boardroom, it was on the understanding that I was to
take up the case at once, and that my expenses and a very large sum of
money should be paid me, provided I could manage to bring the affair to
a successful termination. I spent the remainder of that day at the Bank,
carefully studying the various memoranda. A great deal of what I had
read and heard had been mere hearsay, and this it was necessary to
discard in order that the real facts of the case might be taken up, and
the proper conclusions drawn therefrom. For three days I weighed the
case carefully in my mind, and at the end of that time was in a position
to give the Board a definite answer to their inquiries. Thereupon I left
England, with the result that exactly twelve weeks later the two men, so
much wanted, were at Bow Street, and I had the proud knowledge of
knowing that I had succeeded where the men who had tried before me had
so distinctly failed.

As will be remembered, it was a case that interested every class of
society, and Press and Public were alike united in the interest they
showed in it. It is not, however, to the trial itself as much as another
curious circumstance connected with it, that has induced me to refer to
it here. The case had passed from the Magistrate's Court to the Old
Bailey, and was hourly increasing in interest. Day after day the Court
was crowded to overflowing, and, when the time came for me to take my
place in the witness-box and describe the manner in which I had led up
to and effected the capture of the offenders, the excitement rose to
fever-heat. I can see the whole scene now as plainly as if it had
occurred but yesterday; the learned Judge upon the Bench, the jury in
their box, the rows of Counsels