My Strangest Case

overed to be missing, and the manager and one of the directors were absent also. So cleverly had the affair been worked, and so flaring were the defalcations, that had it not b

ehind them. Scotland Yard took the matter up with its usual promptness, and at first were confident of success. They set their cleverest detectives to work upon it, and it was not until more than a month had elapsed that the men engaged were compel

m at the head-office that day. To tell the truth I had been expecting this summons for nearly a week, and was far from being displeased when it came. The work I had expected the

fied, and after a brief wait was conducted to the bo

racebridge, received me on

ning the difficulty in which we find ourselves placed. You of course are aware of the serious t

ersant with it, and waited to he

you can offer us any assistance in our hour of difficulty? Pray take a chai

at day at the Bank, carefully studying the various memoranda. A great deal of what I had read and heard had been mere hearsay, and this it was necessary to discard in order that the real facts of the case might be taken up, and the proper conclusions drawn therefrom. For three days I weighed the case carefully in my mind, and at the en

Bench, the jury in their box, the rows of Counsels, and the benches full of interested spectators. I gave my evidence and was examined by the Counsels for the prosecution and for the defence. I described how I had traced the men from England to their hiding-place abroad, and the various attempts that had been made to prevent their extradition, and had just referred to a certain statement one of the prisoners had made to me soon after his arrest, when an interruption caused me to look behind at the rows of spectators. At the further end of the bench, nearest me, were two men; one was evidently tall, the other very short. The taller was the possessor of silvery white hair and a long and venerable beard. He was a handsome looking man of abou

dexterity that was plainly the outcome of a long practice. When I stopped, they stopped also, and the blind man addressed me. His voice was deep and had a note of pathos in it impossible to describe. It may ha

are you not?" inquired

I admitted. "What

ful than we could say," the man replied. "We have an important piece of business which it might

nquired. "You have seen me in Court every day

risk of losing you. We thought we would wait and familiarize ourselves with all that you have done in this affair before coming to you. Now we are s

must hear what it is that you want me to do and have time to think it over, before I can a

not, seeing that we have stood outside it repeatedly, trying to summon up cou

morning, I shall be very pleased to see you. But you must bear in mind the fact that my time

y you yourself will say so when you hear the evidence I have to offer. It is not as if we are destitute.

the Old Bailey. Curious glances were being thrown at my companions by passers-by, and so vehement were

be very glad to see you at my office at ten o'clock to-morrow morning. I mu

We have too much at stake to run any risks of losing your assistanc

ch he placed before me. The first I took up bore the name of Mr. Septimus Codd, that of the second, Mr. George Kitwater. When I had finished the letter I was in the act of dictating, I bade the clerk admit them, and a moment later the blind man and his companion whom I had seen on Ludgate Hill the previous evening, were ushered into my presence. I cannot remember a more venerable appearance than that presented by the taller man. His was a personality that would have appealed forcibly to any student of humanity. It was decidedly an open countenance, to which the long white beard that descended almost to his waist gave an added reverence. His head was well shaped and well set upon his shoulders, his heigh

said. "Allow me to congratu

r. "Our business is so particular that we did not

t business is?" I replied, taking my note-book out of a

understand that everything we have to tell you will be

ell me, my business would not be worth a day's purchase. You can rest assured

We have been for many years missionaries in China, sowing the good seed in the Western Provinces. I do not know whether you have ever visited that country, but even if you have not you must be aware to some extent of the dang

y be in the missionary work of China, I cannot allow it to interfere with my business. The sooner you tell

raid our calling, however, is apt to make us a trifle verbose. If you wi

signed to hi

o successful as to be able to persuade even the Mandarin of the Province to listen to our message. He was an enormously rich man, one of the richest perhaps in China, and was so impressed by the good news we brought to him that, on his death-

e with your profession, how does it come abo

ime of the Mandarin's death an English traveller, who had been passing through the Western Provinces, reached our city and took up his abode with us. Needless to say we were overwhelmed with grief at the loss of our patron. The treasure he had

what you considered a safe place, and one day awoke to find your estimab

it that we had been presented with the wealth in question, and when it was demanded of us, we could only explain that we had lost it in our turn. You can imagine the position for yourself. At the best of times the foreigner is not popular in China, and our situation was particularly unpleasant. Situated as we were in one of the wildest portions o

nd heaved a

take?" I inquired, for I was beginn

t was what they condemned us to. By that man's villainy I am destined never to look upon God's earth again, while m

seemed too terrible to be true. And yet I had t

ant me to do? I cannot give you back your s

joy the wealth he stole from us. It is sacred to a special duty, and that duty it must perform. We are not overburdened with riches, in fact we are dependent upo

uest," I said. "How do you know wh

rial at which you saw us was to hear the evidence you gave and to draw our own conclusions from it. That those conclusions were complimentary to you, our presence here is evidence of. We know that we could not put our case in better hands, and

ther end of the world a

him. All we ask you to do is to bring us face to face with him. We will manage the re

o with, and for the moment I scarcely knew wh

where the man went

ed. "After that he made his way through Mandalay to Rango

e Jemadar re

," he answered. "We have mad

his and then conti

he subject, what do you suppose would be the tot

and held out his hand. The other took it and tapped upon the palm with the tips of h

y were of exquisite lustre and extraordinary size. Possibly they might have been w

the truth? I asked myself, or were they trying to interest

" I continued. "I trust you will forgive

bona fides," he remarked. "I am afraid we cannot give you any other, seeing as I have said, that we are both poor men. If you are prepared to take

back in my chair and looking at them both as I spoke. "I must have time to think it over;

Kitwater, who had been holding his usual mys

ou will be able to l

knowing where the man is at present: he may be in London; he may be in America; he may be in any other portion of the globe. I

to play you false? You can see for yourself that our injuries are permanent, and, as far as they go, are at least evidence concerning the truth of our story. You can also see for yourself how

id. "My only feeling is that I must re

had a considerable start of us already, and he has doubtless disposed of the jewels ere this. At whatever price he sold them, he mus

get it for you? Let me explain matters a little more clearly. In the first place I have

, but we must bear it as we have borne our other misfortunes. When we realized the way you managed those bank people we said to each other -'That's the ma

to commit myself until I have given the matter due consideration. If you will call her

ontent with that," said

n thanked me

oes this man Hayle know

man shoo

a moment that we were alive and in the same country as himself, he'd be out of it like a rat driven by a ferret fro

n the man's face that startled me. I felt that, blind though he was

ed for life, and come to me in London to seek out their betrayer for them, in whatever part of the globe he might be. The whole thing seemed so preposterous as to be scarcely worth consideration, and yet, try how I would to put it out of my mind, I found myself thinking of

o hesitation in immediately accepting. Fate, however, which is generally more responsible for these matters than most folk imagine, had still a card to play upon Messrs.