An African Millionaire

tired of London! Let's shoulder our wallets at once, an

planet, I'm afraid you'll find it just a trifle difficult

ire, I should like to know, if you're always obliged to 'behave as sich'? I

and disbelieving everything," till life was a burden to him. He spotted impossible Colonel Clays under a thousand disguises; he was quite convinced he had frightened his enemy away at least a dozen times over, beneath the varying garb of a fat club waiter, a tall policeman, a washerwoman's boy, a solicitor's clerk, the Bank of England beadle, and the collector

arts unknown, on the succeeding Saturday, Amelia and I felt a flush of relie

g Post, "give me the deck of an Atlantic liner! No letters; no telegrams

nted cheerfully. I regret to say, nobod

ng his, in the Etruria, for New York, on her very next voyage. He spoke of his destination to nobody but Amelia; and Amelia warned Césarine, under pains and penalties, on no a

emore, the senior partner, hastened, of course, to receive us. As we entered his private room a good-looking young man rose and lounged out.

than Paris. Since then, he's hung about a bit, here, there, and everywhere, and done no particular good for himself or his family. But about three or four years ago he somehow 'struck ile': he w

quiry-New York, Chicago, Colorado, the mining districts. It was a millionaire's holiday. So he took all these valuables in a black japanned dispatch-box, which he guarded like a child with absurd precautions. He never allowed that box out of his sight one moment; and he gave me no peace as to its

ot been for the dispatch-box. He made friends from the first hour (quite after the fearless old fashion of the days before Colonel Clay had begun to embitter life for him) with a nice American doctor and his charming wife, on their way back to Kentucky. Dr. Elihu Quackenboss-that was his characteristically American name-had been studying medicine for a year in Vienna, and was now returning to his native State with a brain close crammed with all the latest bacteriological and antiseptic discoveries. His wife, a pretty and piquant little American, wi

the other place, till, for Amelia's sake, I was glad she was not on board to witness it. Long before we sighted

she painted Sir Charles, on calm days on deck, in all possib

rious ideas of his, with which he wished to "liven up folks in Kentucky a bit," on his return, till Charles conceived the highest possible regard for his intelligence and enterprise. "Th

not he should offer the post to the smart Kentuckian. For my own part, I am inclined to connect this fact with his expressed determination to visit his South African undertakings for t

said, "remember, you must

ark for the present, till all is arranged for. I

nd Mrs. Quackenboss. He remarked that he was connected with one of the biggest financial concerns in the

accentuating the tip-tilted nose a little

ed. "Pounds sterling, you know. In United St

at it," Mrs. Quackenboss repl

am a man of science, not a speculator. I have trained myself for medical work, at considerable cost, in the best schools of Europe, and I do not propose to fl

erican!" I murmured

l place for swopping horses. The more he declined, and the better he talked, the more eager Charles became each day to secure him. And, as if on purpose to draw him on, the doctor

horseflesh, a first class euchre player, and a pleasing baritone. When occasion demanded he could occupy a pulpit. He had invented a cork-screw which br

came to bid us good-bye at the quay, with that sphinx-like smile still playing upon his features.

his is good-bye-for ever!" A

American replied, with a telling gl

Hill," Charl

oss echoed. "The Murray Hill! Why, tha

to Kentucky, to diverge for a few days with us to Lake George and La

between that point and the road to Ticonderoga. Somehow, the mountains mirrored in the deep green water reminded me of Lucerne; and Lucerne reminded me of the little cura

He had been paying great court to Mrs. Quackenboss that day, and was absurdly elated beca

he banks of the lake, among woods just carpeted with strange, triangular flowers-trilliums,

ont of Charles. He had a strange head of hair, very thick and shaggy. I don't know why, but, of a sudden, it reminded me of the Mexican Seer, whom we had learned to remember as Colonel Clay's first embodiment. At the same moment the same thought seemed to run through Charles's head; for

ft it off bodily. He had made a bad guess. Next instant the doctor uttered a loud and terrified howl of pain, while several of his hairs, root and all, came out of his scalp in Charles

naire, and that he had suffered egregiously from the endless machinations of a certain Colonel Clay, a machiavellian rogue, who had hounded him relentlessly round the capitals of Europe. He described in graphic detail how the impostor got himself up with wigs and wax, so as to deceive even those who knew him intimately; and then he threw himself on Dr. Quackenboss's mercy, as a man who had been cruelly taken in so often that he could not help suspecting the best of men fal

Charles pleaded; "an

h Africa, Mr. Porter-I mean, Sir Charles Vandrift, if that's the right way to address such a

forget the incident-in my opinion Charles would have gladly paid it. Indeed, he said as much in other words to the pretty American-for he could not insult her by offering her money. Mrs. Quackenboss did her best to make it up, for she was a kindly little creature, in spite of her roguishness; but Elihu stood aloof. Charles urged him still to go out to South Africa, increasing

uperintendent for the mine at Cloetedorp, or elated at the novel description of himself a

retty little woman burst in with a dash to tell us they were leaving. She was charmingly got up in the neatest and completest of American

etic; "for I just hate to be buried right down there in Kentucky! However, Elihu is the sort of man a woman can n

nnounced his intention of setting out for the West on his tour of

ot brought even Simpson with him, and then we pre

n the centre table while he collected his other immediate impedimenta. He couldn't find his cigarette-case, and went back to the bedroom for it. I helped him hunt, but it had disappeared mysteriously. That moment lost him. When we

st two minutes ago!" he crie

"Everything turns up in the end-i

ther-in-law, "your hil

nt, in which case they were locked up in the safe and duly returned to the depositor on leaving. Charles declared somewhat excitedly that he had been robbed, and demanded that nobody should be allowed to leave the hotel till the dispatch-box was discovered. The manager, quite cool, and obtrusively picking hi

that he is anywhere a foreigner. "Do you know who I am, sir?" he asked, angri

same treatment as anyone else, in America. But if you're Sir Charles Vandrift," he w

h embarrassment. The

s precious documents; he had given a false name; and he had rendered the manager supremely careless whether or not he recovered his stolen property. Indeed, seeing he had registered as Porter, and now "claimed" as V

d there with a six-shooter. Charles telegraphed to New York to prevent the shares and coupons from being negotiated; but his brokers telegraphed back that, though they had stopped the numbers as far as possible, they did so with reluctance, as they were not a

ught broke across me. I was so excited by it that I rose and rushed into my brother-in-law's bedroom. "Charles, Charles

h increasing frequency); "is that what you've waked me up for? Why, the Quackenbosses left

I cried. "Perhaps they stopped on-

confess I don't think it was worth waking me up for. I

hbouring Washington House, which they quitted on Wednesday morning, taking the same train for Saratoga which Charles and I had intended to go by. Mrs. Quackenboss

needed but an apron to transform her pretty travelling-dress into a chambermaid's costume; and in any of

aratoga," Charles cried. "Pa

wered. "Will you g

his pockets. "All, all in th

most suspicious at the change of name and the accusation of theft, peremptorily refused to accept Charles's cheque, o

other-in-law that evening, "Elih

are, in which case they turn out to be harmless nobodies. But who would have thought it was he after I pulled his hair out?

Clay-for no better reason than because he wore a wig. We thought Elihu Quackenboss wasn't Colonel Clay-for no better reason than because he didn't wear one. But how do we know he ever wears wigs? Isn't it possible, after all, that those hints he

a most aggrieved tone, "that I should have thought any sec

of its native hue. By now it has had time to grow long and bushy. When he was David Granton, no doubt, he clipped it to an intermediate length, trimmed his beard and moustache, and dyed them all red, to a fine Scotch colour. As the Seer, again, he wore his hair much the same as Elihu's; only, to suit the character, more com

riendly. "I will do you the justice to admit that's the neare

le from our momentary tension. It was from our enemy himself-but

oga, F

tch-box, intact, with the papers untouched. As you

s strange conduct. Let me be seriou

ed no part of our original game to steal your dispatch-box; that I consider a simple and elementary trick unworthy the skill of a practised operator. We persisted in the preparations for our coup, till you pulled my hair out. Then, to my great surprise, I saw you exhibited a degree of regret and genuine compunction with which, till that moment, I

eared out, having embezzled thousands. But, then, I should have been in a position of tr

ranger, who made a lady a present of her own watch because she had sung to him and reminded him of England. In other words, he did not take it from her. In like manner, when I found you had behaved, for once, lik

see I really meant it. If I had gone off with no swag, and then written you this letter, you would not have believed me. You would have thought it was merel

me all germs or relics of better feeling; and when I see a millionaire beh

penitence, but still a

ed by Eagle Express Company. Charles rushed up to our rooms again, opened it feverishly, and counted his documents. When he found them all saf

about it. Colonel Clay was a rogue, no doubt-a most unblushi

rles to the quick, I suppose, in re the Slump in Cloetedorp Golcondas. Thou