he simply coined gold. Everything he touched turned into cash,
and however deeply he plunged into the money market, he always came out
top in the end. By turning over his money and re-investing it, and by
fresh speculations, he became a millionaire in a wonderfully short space
of time. Then he made me his secretary and afterwards took up politics.
The Government gave him a knighthood for services rendered to his party,
and he became a well-known figure in the world of finance. He married
Lady Agnes Lambert, and--and--that's all."

"You were aware that he was a gypsy, Mr. Silver?" asked the reporter.

"Oh, yes. I knew all about his origin from the first days of our
acquaintanceship. He asked me to keep his true name and rank secret. As
it was none of my business, I did so. At times Hearne--or rather Pine,
as I know him best by that name--grew weary of civilization, and then
would return to his own life of the tent and road. No one suspected
amongst the Romany that he was anything else but a horse-coper. He
always pretended to be in Paris, or Berlin, on financial affairs, when
he went back to his people, and I transacted all business during his
absence."

"You knew that he was at the Abbot's Wood camp?"

"Certainly. I saw him there once or twice to receive instructions about
business. I expostulated with him for being so near the house where his
brother-in-law and wife were living, as I pointed out that the truth
might easily become known. But Pine merely said that his safety in
keeping his secret lay in his daring to run the risk."

"Have you any idea that Sir Hubert intended to come by night to Lord
Garvington's house?"

"Not the slightest. In fact, I told him that Lord Garvington was afraid
of burglars, and had threatened to shoot any man who tried to enter the
house."

All this Silver said in a perfectly frank, free-and-easy manner, and
also related how the dead man had instructed him to ask Garvington to
allow the gypsies to remain in the wood. The reporter published the
interview with sundry comments of his own, and it was read with great
avidity by the public at large and by the many friends of the
millionaire, who were surprised to learn of the double life led by the
man. Of course, there was nothing disgraceful in Pine's past as Ishmael
Hearne, and all attempts to discover something shady about his
antecedents were vain. Yet--as was pointed out--there must have been
something wrong, else the adventurer, a