"'One month! one month!' he shrieked. 'Then what, in the fiend's name, does Cleon mean by writing that he has implicit confidence in you? Who are you? and where do you come from? How can one have implicit confidence in a man whom one has only known for four weeks? Cleon must take me for a fool.' "'My name I have already told you, sir. Before coming here, I was in service with Mr. Madgin, of Dupley Walls.' "M. Platzoff's face turned from yellow to green as I uttered these words. 'From Dupley Walls, did you say?' he gasped; 'from Dupley Walls in Midlandshire?' "'That is the place, sir.' He evidently knew something about Dupley Walls, but how much or how little, was the question. I felt myself on the brink of an abyss. Was I about to be kicked out of Bon Repos as an impostor? "'But--but I have always understood that a certain Lady Pollexfen was the owner of Dupley Walls?' "'Lady Pollexfen is the owner, sir, but she does not live at the hall, but at a cottage in the park; the house has been let for several years back to Mr. Madgin.' "'And how long have you been in the employ of this Mr. Madgin?' "'Since I was quite a boy, sir.' "'Then why have you left him?' "'Because he is about to reside on the Continent, and is about to break up his English establishment.' "'Then you are acquainted with Lady Pollexfen?' "'Only from seeing her frequently, sir. I have never spoken to her. She is very old now, and lives a very secluded life.' "'Has she any of her children living with her?' "'I am not aware that her ladyship has any children. I have heard speak of one son who died in India many years ago.' "'Ah!' Then after a pause, 'Well, Mr. James Jasmin, I will accept your services for the present, but I hope to goodness that Cleon is not going to be laid up for any length of time. Ring the bell for my shaving-water, and reach me that dressing-gown.' "Congratulate me, my dear dad, on the dexterity with which I extricated myself from a difficulty that in more awkward hands might readily have proved fatal. "It is not requisite that I should enter into any details of the minor duties I had to perform for M. Platzoff. They were the ordinary duties of a body servant, and it is sufficient to say that I got through them without making any very egregious blunder. That I am still engaged in the same capacity is a tolerable proof that M. Platzoff is not dissatisfied with my services, for Cleon has not yet recovered, and although somewhat better, is still confined to his bed. Platzoff is not a difficult man to serve under. He does not treat his people like dogs, as I have heard of many so-called gentlemen doing. Only attend well to his minor comforts, and do not keep him waiting for anything, and you will never hear a wrong word from him.