“The sheet of paper’s there,” he said.  “It’s got on it, in his writing, a brief memorandum of what he wanted and the address of his bankers.  When he’d given it to me, he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a purse in which I could see he was carrying plenty of money.  He took out some notes.  ‘Here’s five-and-twenty pounds on account, Harker,’ he said.  ’You might have to spend a bit.  Don’t be afraid—­plenty more where that comes from.  You’ll do it soon?’ he asked.  ’Yes, I’ll do it, Mr. Braden,’ I answered.  ’It’ll be a bit of a holiday for me.’  ‘That’s all right,’ he said.  ’I’m delighted I came across you.’  ’Well, you couldn’t be more delighted than I was surprised,’ I said.  ’I never thought to see you in Wrychester.  What brought you here, if one may ask —­sight-seeing?’ He laughed at that, and he pulled out his purse again.  ‘I’ll show you something—­a secret,’ he said, and he took a bit of folded paper out of his purse.  ’What do you make of that?’ he asked.  ‘Can you read Latin?’ ’No —­except a word or two,’ I said, ‘but I know a man who can.’  ‘Ah, never mind,’ said he.  ’I know enough Latin for this—­and it’s a secret.  However, it won’t be a secret long, and you’ll hear all about it.’  And with that he put the bit of paper in his purse again, and we began talking about other matters, and before long he said he’d promised to have a chat with a gentleman at the Mitre whom he’d come along with in the train, and away he went, saying he’d see me before be left the town.”

“Did he say how long he was going to stop here?” asked Bryce.

“Two or three days,” replied Harker.

“Did he mention Ransford?” inquired Bryce.

“Never!” said Harker.

“Did he make any reference to his wife and children?”

“Not the slightest!”

“Nor to the hint that his counsel threw out at the trial?”

“Never referred to that time except in the way I told you —­that he hadn’t a penny of the money, himself and that he’d himself refunded it.”

Bryce meditated awhile.  He was somewhat puzzled by certain points in the old detective’s story, and he saw now that there was much more mystery in the Braden affair than he had at first believed.

“Well,” he asked, after a while, “did you see him again?”

“Not alive!” replied Harker.  “I saw him dead—­and I held my tongue, and have held it.  But—­something happened that day.  After I heard of the accident, I went into the Crown and Cushion tavern—­the fact was, I went to get a taste of whisky, for the news had upset me.  And in that long bar of theirs, I saw a man whom I knew—­a man whom I knew, for a fact, to have been a fellow convict of Brake’s.  Name of Glassdale—­forgery.  He got the same sentence that Brake got, about the same time, was in the same convict prison with Brake, and he and Brake would be released about the same date.  There was no doubt about his identity—­I