John went straight to the drawing-room, and walked in with a sullen face. His day was over, but he could “die game.” He found not only his late ward, but Mrs. Abercarne, her daughter, and a gentleman of unmistakably legal aspect. There was a little flutter on his entrance, but he at once perceived matters were to be made as pleasant for him as the circumstances allowed. Thus, Richard came forward, and although he did not shake hands with him, he introduced Mr. Reynolds, “of the firm of Reynolds and Parkinson,” in a tone less cold, less hostile than that he had assumed on the preceding day. And yet in the meantime Richard had become aware, through Marrable, who, on the announcement of Bradfield’s arrival, had tried to hide himself behind the window-curtains, of the monstrous breach of trust by which John Bradfield the pauper had become John Bradfield the millionaire, at his expense. The reason for this change in demeanour was simple enough; the human mind admires vastness, it is easily impressed, nay, abashed by undertakings carried on with magnificence, with completeness. If a man steals our watch, or a purse containing sixpence, we seize him, and hold him until a policeman comes up; if he cheats us out of a thousand pounds by inducing us to take shares in a worthless company, we proceed against him respectfully by lawsuit, which may end in our discomfiture instead of his. So that Richard, overwhelmed by the greatness of the crime, felt almost more bewildered than indignant in the presence of the criminal. John Bradfield had the wit to recognise this, and it cleared the way to an understanding. He proceeded to assure both the lawyer and his client that he had only held Gilbert Wryde’s money in trust, and had used it in the belief that Richard was insane. Now, finding that he had been mistaken, he was delighted to hand over to the young man the fortune of which he had been trustee, and should never cease to regret the unhappy error by which Richard had been kept out of his property so long. All this both the lawyer and his client affected to hear and believe without question, so that matters went on quite amiably and smoothly, and the transfer of the property from the usurper to the owner was quietly arranged when the ladies and Marrable, all of whom had greeted John with much constraint, had left the three gentlemen by themselves. “May I ask, Mr. Bradfield,” asked Dick, during a pause for the lawyer to make some notes of the arrangement proposed, “whether your own private fortune is large enough to enable you to live in the style you’ve been accustomed to? Or have you only kept up this large establishment on my account?” He had found this delicate question somewhat difficult to frame, and he had not quite succeeded in avoiding a suspicion of sarcasm. But Mr. Bradfield answered at once that his private fortune was not adequate to stand such a strain.