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182 This was awkward, because it was a certainty that before long all the world must know of the banker's illness, and an inquiry into his finances would inevitably follow. With this little devil as a witness against me, my dealings with a man whose brain was affected would cause me serious trouble if they came out.

I could see that it was necessary to go "canny" with this queer specimen of humanity, and I asked," Why do you say 'he doesn't know what he's doing'?"

"I've knowed 'im thirty years," was the answer, "and I've seen that 'e's not been 'isself for some time."

"You're talking nonsense, Fernie," I laughed, "Sir Richard is all right."

I kept away from the bank for close on a fortnight after this, and then received a message from Sir Richard asking me to visit him at his private house, in Kensington Gardens, which, so far, I had avoided.

I was very disgusted when I saw Fernie, dressed in irreproachable black, open the door for me, and I did not fail to notice the look, both suspicious and impertinent, which he gave me. Nanson was sitting in an arm-chair in his gorgeously furnished bedroom, and I