“They 've taken that fellow Redlines. I suppose you 've heard it?” said he, still sorting and arranging the letters. “No,” said Dunn, stopping suddenly in his walk; “where was he apprehended?” “In Liverpool. He was to have sailed in the 'Persia,' and had his place taken as a German watchmaker going to Boston.” “What was it he did? I forget,” said Dunn, carelessly. “He did, as one may say, a little of everything; issued false scrip on the Great Coast Railway, sold and pocketed the price of some thirty thousand pounds' worth of their plant, mortgaged their securities, and cooked their annual accounts so cleverly that for four years nobody had the slightest suspicion of any mischief.” “What was it attracted the first attention to these frauds, Hankes?” said Dunn, apparently curious to hear an interesting story. “The merest accident in the world. He had sent a few lines to the Duke of Wycombe to inquire the character and capacity of a French cook. Pollard, the Duke's man of business, happened to be in the room when the note came, and his Grace begged he would answer it for him. Pollard, as you are aware, is Chairman of the Coast Line; and when he saw the name 'Lionel Redlines,' he was off in a jiffy to the Board room with the news.” “One would have thought a little foresight might have saved him from such a stupid mistake as this,” said Dunn, gravely. “A mode of living so disproportioned to his well-known means must inevitably have elicited remark.” “At any other moment, so it would,” said Hankes; “but we live in a gambling age, and no one can say where, when, the remedy be curative or poisonous.” Then, with a quick start round, he said, “Hankes, do you remember that terrific accident which occurred a few years ago in France,--at Angers, I think the place was called? A regiment in marching order had to cross a suspension-bridge, and coming on with the measured tramp of the march, the united force was too much for the strength of the structure; the iron beams gave way, and all were precipitated into the stream below. This is an apt illustration of what we call credit. It will bear, and with success, considerable pressure if it be irregular, dropping, and incidental. Let the forces, however, be at once consentaneous and united,--let the men keep step,--and down comes the bridge! Ah, Hankes, am I not right?” “I believe you are, sir,” said Hankes, who was not quite certain that he comprehended the illustration. “His Lordship is waiting breakfast, sir,” said a smartly dressed footman at the door. “I will be down in a moment. I believe, Hankes, we have not forgotten anything? The Cloyne and Carrick Company had better be wound up; and that waste-land project--let me have the papers to look over. You think we ought to discount those bills of Barrington's?” “I'm sure of it, sir. The people at the Royal Bank would take them to-morrow.”