member that you are the only person to whom I divulge it, and therefore if it leaks out—either you or I will be to blame. There is no third party for us to accuse, and silence is essential to success. You will call first on the chemist, and make excuse for your previous lack of neighbourliness. Tell him you have gone through an anxious financial strain, pressed by Brassard on the one hand with the weapon of unfair competition, and threatened on the other hand by bankruptcy. Now, happily, this crisis is past. Naturally the chemist will want further particulars, and you will tell him that you were fortunate enough to meet a young fool with more money than brains, and that"
"Really, my lord, I must protest"
"Don't protest, but listen, my dear Bendale. More money than brains, who has not only paid you in cash the full value that your shop is worth, but has returned part of the stock, and has offered you a handsome salary to remain as manager. The chemist will be more than human if he does not at once implore you to give him an introduction to this financial idiot. You will refuse to divulge my name, saying, what is quite true, that you are pledged to secrecy, but you will offer to sound the purchaser if the chemist places his business at your disposal, naming a reasonable figure, to be afterwards checked by a Chartered Accountant. Should he accept your intervention, get him to write out and sign an agreement to that effect, which you will
