Richards, a secret silent man, had been in Mr. Temple's service for a great number of years. Long before Mr. Temple had achieved distinction, he had observed in this man certain qualities which he deemed might be useful to him; and he took Richards into his service. He found the man invaluable, and had entrusted to him many delicate commissions, all of which had been carried out to his satisfaction. The men were necessary to each other. As the possessor of secrets the revelation of which, in former years, might have proved awkward, the master was bound to his servant by a strong, albeit somewhat dangerous tie. Richards made use of his power without showing his hand, by asking from time to time for additions to his salary, which were freely accorded. Richards had saved money, and the service was an easy and, to a great extent, an independent one.

He had a knack of keeping his opinions to himself, and of devoting himself, all appearance, entirely to the business entrusted to him--which he invariably contrived should add to the weight of his purse. Mr. Temple had a high opinion of Richards; so high that he had said to his son,

"Arthur, if at any time you want any business of a delicate nature transacted, which you would rather not appear in yourself, employ Richards."

Arthur thought the suggestion strange, as he could not conceive what delicate business he should require attended to, which he should be ashamed to appear in; but a very short time was sufficient to convince him that his father was wiser than he. Certain circumstances occurred which caused him, a fortnight since, to call in the help of Richards; and it thus happened that, at one and the same time, Richards was employed on confidential commissions for the father and the son. A singular, but not unusual phase in these commissions was the absolute silence imposed upon Richards.

"Not a word of this to my father," Arthur Temple said.

The stipulation was not needed. Richards was the soul of secrecy.

On the same day Richards presented two written reports--one to the father, the other to the son. The report presented to Mr. Temple ran thus:

"In accordance with instructions, I have to report--

"The name of the man is Seth Dumbrick. He is a cobbler, and lives in Rosemary Lane.

"Rosemary Lane is in one of the poorest quarters of London. All the people who live there are poor.

"Seth Dumbrick is a single man, and has never been married--either directly or indirectly.

"He has two persons living with him--both young women, whom he has brought up from childhood. They are not his children. One is Sally Chester. Her parents, when she was a child, lived in Rosemary Lane; they fell into misfortune; the father died in the hospital; the mother took service in the country. They had another child, a son. His name is Edward, or, as he was familiarly called, Ned. This son was a thief; he went, or was sent away, to Australia. Upon the precise manner of his going my information is not clear.

"The other person living with Seth Dumbrick goes by the title of the Duchess of Rosemary Lane; she has no Christian or surname. Nothing is known of her parentage.

"Sally Chester is a plain person. The Duchess of Rosemary Lane is a beautiful woman.

"It is whispered about in the neighbourhood that the Duchess of Rosemary Lane will one day marry a gentleman, and that she will become a fine lady. She herself has this anticipation; I had it from her own lips.

"Seth Dumbrick is very poor, and Sally Chester takes in work to help to support them. The Duchess of Rosemary Lane does not work.

"I have nothing further to report at present."

The report presented to Arthur Temple ran thus:

"To a certain point my report is now complete, and I present it, being prepared to prosecute the inquiry, and carry it on from day to day, if I am instructed so to do.

"So that there may be no mistake about my understanding of the instructions given to me, I recapitulate them.

"On the 17th of last month you sent for me, and informed me that you were being robbed. You had missed at various times articles of jewelry, the particulars and description of which I wrote down from your dictation, for the purpose of identification. The principal of the articles were a diamond breastpin, a ring with sunk diamonds and emeralds, a silver cigar-case. I inquired if you were being robbed of anything but articles of jewelry. You replied, not to your knowledge. I inquired if you were careful in looking over your banking account. You replied that you were not in the habit of doing so. I requested that you should look into the matter before I commenced to prosecute my investigations.

"On the following day, the 18th, you sent for me, and informed me that you had looked into your banking account, and that you had been robbed of money by means of forged cheques. It was what I expected.

"I went with you to the bank, and made certain inquiries and took possession of the forged cheques which had been cashed, and of five genuine cheques which had also been cashed, and which I required for my own purposes. In accordance with my wish the bank was not made acquainted with these forgeries. I inquired whether you had a suspicion of any person. You replied that you had no suspicion.

"On the following day, the 19th, I requested that you should send by your valet, James Kingsford, a letter addressed to the manager of the bank, stating that for the next two months you did not intend to draw any one cheque for a larger sum than ￡20. I desired that this letter should, as though by accident, be given unsealed into the hands of your valet, James Kingsford. This was done, and the result justified my anticipation. From the 19th to the 26th, two forged cheques were presented, each for a sum under ￡20. They were paid. The total amount of the forged cheques reached ￡674.

"On the 26th, I desired you to send another letter, imperfectly fastened, to the bank manager, by your valet, stating that, pending certain arrangements you had in contemplation, you did not intend to draw any further cheques upon your account without due notice being given. From that day no forged cheques were presented for payment.

"During the whole of the time I was proceeding with my secret investigation, and have continued it until this date, with this result.

"A person of the name of Ned, or Edward Chester, has lately returned from Australia, where he resided for ten or twelve years. Of his career there I have no information; the time employed by me in this investigation not having been long enough to obtain it. He is an Englishman, born in London, and living during his boyhood, and afterwards at intervals, in Rosemary Lane a common street, in a common locality, in the east of London. Since his return he has not made himself known to any of his former associates, with the exception of one, whom I will presently mention, and who can scarcely be called an associate.

"Ned Chester, before he left for Australia, was a thief, but at the same time a person whose manners wer............