“He went back to England; I expect that sharp dose of imprisonment sickened him of Australia. He had been clever enough to put away the swag somewhere; it was quite a nice little sum. I’ve a notion he had a confederate, although I’m sure it was not one of the old lot, somebody much cleverer than we could turn out. He came to say good-bye to me and one or two others who had been his particular pals. He bluffed us that when he got back to his own country he was going to lead an honest life. For my part, I never believed it. Howard Stormont was a crook by instinct and he’d never do a bit of honest work if he could get money by any other means.” “What do you know of his career between the time he left England and when you paid him that surprise visit at Effington Hall?” “Practically nothing,” was the answer. “In the rough and ready life out there, one soon forgets things, anyway you don’t think continually of them. I had a lot of bad luck and after many years I worked my way back to the old country. As I was looking about for any kind of job that would keep my head above water, I began to think a good deal about him and wondered what he was doing, if he had struck oil or not. “By the merest accident I got on his track, saw him coming out of some city offices unseen by him. A telegraph boy was passing at the time, and I asked him if he knew anything of the gentleman, slipping into his hand a shilling which I could ill afford. He seemed to know a good deal about him. He was a Mr. Howard Stormont--that of course I was sure of as, with the exception of growing stouter, he had not altered since the Australian days--that he was engaged in business, and lived in a fine house in Surrey at a place called Effington. I smartened myself up as well as I could, for I had very nearly come to the end of my tether, and went down there. Lord, he was struck all of a heap when he saw me, so was the flunkey who opened the door. “He was always a quick-witted fellow, so as soon as he had recovered from the shock, he made the best of it, and took me into his study, where we had a long jaw. He told me he had gone in for finance--perfectly straight business, he swore--but it was terribly hazardous, and he owned he was living up to the hilt. Knowing his extravagance of old, I thought it very likely, but he might be pretending this in order to choke me off, as he could be pretty certain I hadn’t called upon him merely to inquire after the state of his health. He was devilish civil all through, of course; he knew I was acquainted with that nasty little episode, and he didn’t dare to ride the high horse.” “And in the end you came to some little financial arrangement?”