£94
WYLDER'S HAJVD.
"Why," said he, holding the text before his eyes in
one hand, and with the fingers of the other touching the
top of his bald forehead, " Tom Wealdon is not once men-
tioned in this, nor in any of them; and this palpably re-
fers to some direction. And 150Z. ? -— no such sum has
been mentioned. And what is this job of Martin's? Is
it Martin of the China Kilns, or Martin of thk Bank?
That, too, plainly refers to a former letter — Mt a word
of the sort. This is very odd indeed." .
scratched in a miniature way there foj^iew seconds, and
then his large long hand descended further to his chin,
and his under-lip was, as usual in deep thought, fondled
and pinched between his finger and thumb.
"There has plainly been a letter lost, manifestly. I
never knew anything wrong in this Gylingden office.
Driver has been always correct; but it is hard to know
any man for certain in this world. I don't think the
Captain would venture anything so awfully hazardous. I
really can't suspect so monstrous a thing ; but, unquestion-
ably, a letter has been lost — and who's to lake it?"
Larkin made a fuller endorsement than usual on this
particular letter, and ruminated over the correspondence
a good while, with his lip between his finger and thumb,
and a shadow on his face, before he replaced it in its iron
drawer.
"It is not a thing to be passed over," murmured the
attorney, who had come to a decision as to the first step
to be taken, and he thought with a qualm of the effect of
one of Wylder's confidential notes getting into Captain
Lake's hands.
While he was buttoning his walking boots, with his
foot on the chair before the fire, a tap at his study door
surprised him. A hurried glance on the table satisfying
Larkin's finger-tips descended