"I will not have her called Mrs Heaton!" I cried in indignation. "Understand that! I have no wife--and a hag like that I certainly would never marry." He raised his eyebrows with a gesture of regret, sighed, but hazarded no remark. "Come," I said, "show me over the place. It will be a most interesting visit, I'm sure." And I laughed, reflecting upon my extraordinary position, one absolutely unparalleled in man's history. "But before doing so will you not sign one or two cheques?" he urged, glancing at his watch. "The postman will call for the letters in half an hour, and they must be dispatched to-day." "What cheques?" "There are six," he answered, taking out a large cheque-book and opening it. "I've already made them out, if you will kindly sign them." I glanced at them. All six were for large amounts, each considerably over a thousand pounds. "They relate to business transactions, all of which are exceedingly good bargains," he explained. "Well," I said, laughing again. "I've never before signed cheques for such big amounts as these. But here goes, if you wish. Whether they'll be honoured is quite another thing." And I took up a pen and appended my signature to each, while he placed one by one in envelopes ready directed to receive them. "Now," he said at last, "if you really wish me to take you round I'll do so, but the whole thing seems so droll and absurd that I hope, sir, you'll excuse my doubts as to your sanity." "Well, why do you think I'm insane?" I asked, looking straight at him. "Do I look like a madman?" "Not at all. With your head swathed in those bandages, you look like a man who's received a serious injury." "Of course, that confounded old charlatan Britten put forward the suggestion that I'm not in my right mind!" I said. "But I tell you quite calmly, and without fear of contradiction--indeed, I could swear upon oath--that never in my life have I entered this place or set eyes upon you or upon that painted old girl before to-day. Now, if you were in my place, surely you would resent, being called husband by a woman whom you don't know from Adam; you wouldn't relish being condemned as a lunatic by an idiotic old country quack, and being imposed upon all round by persons in whom you have not the slightest interest." His face relaxed into a smile. "If I may be permitted to advise," he said, "I think it best not to discuss the matter further at present. A solution must present itself before long. Meanwhile your intellect will be rendered the clearer by repose." "I've already told you that I don't intend to rest until I've extricated myself from this absurdly false position," I said determinedly. "I feel absolutely certain that I've been mistaken for some one of the same name." He shrugged his shoulders. He was evidently a shrewd fellow, this man who said he was my secretary, and was apparently a very confidential servant.