"Perhaps he knows of you through your niece. However it is, you would not have been displeased had you heard him speak of you. The upshot of the affair is that he makes a proposition by which we shall get the two hundred pounds required to produce Linton's new play. The proposition is--and bear in mind that Mr. Pamflett made it out of pure kindness, and out of the respect in which he holds you--that Linton should draw a bill at six months' date for three hundred pounds, and that you should accept it. Linton, of course, as drawer, will endorse it, and so will I. If I hand this bill to Mr. Pamflett to-morrow he will give Linton his cheque for two hundred pounds, and our friend's fortune is made. The resources of civilization, my dear Leth, are wonderful. That a mere scratch of the pen can make a name famous, can make a worthy fellow happy, can bring joy to the hearts of a good woman and her children--you will love Mrs. Linton when you know her--can snatch a man from the depths of despair--now, is it not wonderful to think of? They will bless you, they will remember you in their prayers--but I will say no more. It remains with you." In this speech the actor's art, unconsciously exercised, made itself felt, and it penetrated the very soul of good Uncle Leth. "It does not enter my mind," said Mr. Lethbridge to Kiss, "that you would deceive me----" "I would cut my right hand off first." "And therefore you will forgive me when I ask you if there is really no risk?" "I give you my word and honour, Leth," said Kiss, very seriously, "as a man, and, what is more, as a judge of plays, that there is not the slightest risk. Is my opinion, as an actor and an honourable man, of any value?" "Of the highest value!"