'Not that I'm aware of. In fact, I don't believe he knows Lord Reginald has gone.' 'Then fetch him along to me.' They fetched him along in such fashion that he arrived as I was finishing lunch. I made a hasty meal, for I was aware that a curious interview was close ahead. I can do as much on an empty stomach as most men; but all the same when serious business is on hand, I like to have it comfortably filled. And I'd made up my mind from the very first that I'd have one meal in Twickenham House if I never had another. Gayer came into the room with an air. 'Mr. Foster has arrived, my lord.' 'Show him in here.' There appeared the pertinacious old buffer who'd tried to worry me into signing a will. It didn't require more than half an eye to see he was all of a tremble. 'Hollo, Foster! I hear that you recently assisted at my decease.' 'I--I 'He came two or three steps more forward so that he could inspect me at closer quarters. 'It is the Marquis of Twickenham! But--I don't understand.' 'Nor I. I've come back to make a little stay, and I'm received as if I were a ghost.' 'The truth is, we have been made the victims of a most audacious fraud. Your lordship has returned at a most opportune moment. I was just about to hand over the conduct of affairs to Lord Reginald.' 'The deuce you were.' 'It's--it's a most incomprehensible business altogether.' He took out his handkerchief to wipe his brow; agitation actually made him perspire. 'I have advanced Lord Reginald a considerable sum of money.' 'My money or your own?' 'Your lordship's money. But, of course, you can call upon me to refund. I can only plead in mitigation that I supposed myself to have stood beside your deathbed, and to have seen your lordship actually expire. A gigantic imposition has been practised; though how, at present, I altogether fail to understand.' 'How much has he had?' 'I'm afraid as much as twenty thousand pounds.' 'What's he done with it?' 'I have reason to believe that the major part of it has been transferred to Mr. Howarth.' 'What, Douglas! Does he think I'm dead?' 'Mr. Howarth was the prime mover----' He stopped. 'I wish to say nothing--speaking, as I do, as one in the dark--which I may have to recall hereafter, so I will simply observe that it was Mr. Howarth who discovered you.' 'Discovered me?' 'Discovered, that is, the person who pretended to be you.' 'You don't mean to say that Douglas Howarth mistook another man for me?' 'He did.' 'Was the fellow so like me, then?' 'Now that I am actually standing in your lordship's presence I perceive that there are points of difference. But the resemblance was so strong that at the time I was deceived, as were the others.' 'This is a very funny story, Foster.' 'It is. And to you, my lord, I am aware that it must seem strange indeed. A thorough investigation will have to be made, when I think your lordship will allow that I was not deluded so easily, or so egregiously, as may at present appear.'