Men in bewilderment do foolish things even when they are men of judgment, and Professor Higginson certainly was not that. His next words were fatal.
"Do you suppose I carry a cheque-book on me?" he roared.
"Melba," said Jimmy quietly, in the tones of a general officer commanding an orderly, "go through him."
The Professor having said a foolish word, followed it by a still more foolish action. He dived into the right-hand pocket of the Green Overcoat with a gesture purely instinctive. Melba was upon him like a fat hawk, almost wrenched his arm from its socket, and drew from that right-hand pocket a noble great cheque-book of a brilliant red, with a leather backing such as few cheque-books possess, and having printed on it in bold plutocratic characters—
"John Brassington, Esqr.,
'Lauderdale,'
Crampton Park, Ormeston."
Melba conveyed the cheque-book solemnly to Jimmy, and the two young men sat down again opposite their involuntary creditor,
