"I found Brassard, whom I had never met before, to be a hard and, it seemed to me, an unjust man, but finally, when he threatened me and made an attempt at blackmail, I confess unreasonable anger rose within me; so when I left him I went across to that little park opposite and sat down on a bench to plan revenge. I saw by these windows that you, too, were engaged in the cut-throat game, if I may so term it, and it occurred to me to send you across some customers. Please don't think, Mr. Bendale, that I am a light-headed, piffling person merely because my rancour took the form it did. I was revolving in my mind a much deeper conspiracy against the peace of Richard Brassard, and if I can only secure a few men who will obey me as faithfully and carry out my directions as perfectly as those boys did, I'll make the respected Richard Brassard sit up before I'm done with him. He will be Richard the Hunchback rather than Richard Cœur de Lion. The grasping braggart will regret that he tried to get twenty-five thousand pounds out of me this afternoon."
"Twenty-five thousand pounds! You must be a rich man, sir."
"Yes, I'm Stranleigh of Wychwood."
"What! Lord Stranleigh? Why, my dear wife came from Stranleigh village!"
"No, she didn't, Mr. Bendale; she came from Stranleigh Park, west lodge. You married Sally
