or so--and if, after teaching them and educating them a bit, I gave them, say, ten pounds apiece, to tide them over the first few weeks, that I might next open a distributive and co-operative store for them, and so take the first step to abolishing the middle-man--the man of trade.' 'I see; and so you drew the money for that purpose?' 'Yes. But as I told you, I was obliged to abandon my scheme. The men were not sufficiently advanced. They listened; they professed great willingness to receive the money; but they gave me no encouragement to hope that they would carry out my plan. So it fell through. And the men remain to this day with their employers. And so--you see--I never used the money. I remember that I had the cheque cashed in ten-pound notes for the purpose.' 'What became of the notes?' 'I don't know. They are in the Bank, I suppose--wandering about the world. I gave them back to Dering.' 'Oh! my dear Master'--Elsie sprang to her feet and laid a sheet of paper on the table--'this is most Providential! I cannot tell you what a dreadful cause of trouble this cheque has been to us. It has half ruined my brother's life. For Heaven's sake, write it all down for me. Quick! quick! before you forget it all.' 'I shall not forget it. Nevertheless, Elsie, if a statement of the facts can be of any use to you'--he changed his seat and took up the pen--'certainly I will write it for you.' 'I am requested,' he wrote, 'by Miss Elsie Arundel, my Scholar, to state what I know of a certain transaction which took place in March 1882. The facts are as follows: I had need of a sum of seven hundred and twenty pounds. For certain purposes I wanted it in ten-pound notes. I asked my agent, Mr. Dering, to give me a cheque; and as I thought that I should want the money immediately, perhaps in an hour or so, I asked him to make it payable to my order, and not to cross the cheque. He drew the cheque and gave it to me in his office. I then went to the hotel where I was stopping--a place in Arundel Street, Strand, and sent a commissionaire to the Bank for the money. He brought it, as I had requested, in ten-pound notes. In a few days I discovered that my plan could not be even commenced without the greatest danger of defeating its own object. I therefore took the notes to Mr. Dering's office and placed them in his safe. I suppose that he has long since returned them to the Bank.' 'There, child,' he said, reading this statement aloud. 'That is what I recollect about this matter.' 'Sign it.' Elsie gave him the pen again. 'Sign it, dear Master.--Oh! thanks--thanks a thousand times! You don't know--oh! you will never know or understand--I hope--how precious this document will be for me'--she folded the paper in an envelope and placed it in her handbag--'and for my people--my brother and all. Oh! my dear Master.' She stooped and kissed his hand, to hide the tears in her eyes. Athelstan's name was safe now whatever happened. He would be completely cleared at last.