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184 business. Only you, and Lucy, and Fernie shall be allowed in."

I had a talk with his daughter before I left, and told her that the outlook was bad, but suggested that we should wait another fortnight before letting anyone into the secret, if things worked out according to my prognosis.

"Once brand a man with brain trouble and he is condemned for the rest of his life," I told her.

Fernie opened the door to show me out that afternoon, and as he did so, said to me, "That money's Miss Lucy's; you give it to her, doctor; I've seen 'im and you over them notes."

The affair was now at such a pass as to cause me "furiously to think," but it was two days later that the idea came to me.

Sir Richard's mental faculties were rapidly getting worse. It was now necessary either for his daughter, Fernie or me to be always in attendance on him, and it was a look that he gave Fernie, and which I caught, that first put the project into my head.

The banker's brain, as I have told you, was very unbalanced; he was irritable, suspicious, and difficult to manage, and it was quite easy for me to do what I wished, namely, to inflame his mind against his old servant.