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word of a man who has seen something of the world.'

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated
estimate of my ability with which he prefaced it, was,
if you will believe me, Watson, the very first thing
which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest
hobby. At the moment, however, I was too much
concerned at the sudden illness of my host to think of
anything else.

"'I hope that I have said nothing to pain you?' said
I.

"'Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender
point. Might I ask how you know, and how much you
know?' He spoke now in a half-jesting fashion, but a
look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.

"'It is simplicity itself,' said I. 'When you bared
your arm to draw that fish into the boat I saw that J.
A. Had been tattooed in the bend of the elbow. The
letters were still legible, but it was perfectly clear
from their blurred appearance, and from the staining
of the skin round them, that efforts had been made to
obliterate them. It was obvious, then, that those
initials had once been very familiar to you, and that
you had afterwards wished to forget them.'

"What an eye you have!" he cried, with a sigh of
relief. 'It is just as you say. But we won't talk of
it. Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old lovers are
the worst. Come into the billiard-room and have a
quiet cigar.'


"From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was
always a touch of suspicion in Mr. Trevor's manner
towards me. Even his son remarked it. 'You've given
the governor such a turn,' said he, 'that he'll never
be sure again of what you know and what you don't
know.' He did not mean to show it, I am sure, but it
was so strongly in his mind that it peeped out at
every action. At last I became so convinced that I
was causing him uneasiness that I drew my visit to a
close. On the very day, however, before I left, and
incident occurred which proved in the sequel to be of
importance.

"We were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs,
the three of us, basking in the sun and admiring the
view across the Broads, when a maid came out to say
that there was a man at the door who wanted to see Mr.
Trevor.

"'What is his name?' asked my host.

"'He would not give any.'

"'What does he want, then?'

"'He says that you know him, and that he only wants a
moment's conversation.'

"'Show him round here.' An instant afterwards there
appeared a little wizened fellow with a cringing
manner and a shambling style of walking. He wore an
open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, a
red-and-black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and
heavy boots badly worn. His face was thin and brown
and crafty, with a perpetual smile upon it, which
showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his
crinkled hands were half closed in a way that is
distinctive of sailors. As he came slouching across
the lawn I heard Mr. Trevor make a sort of hiccoughing
noise in his throat, and jumping out of his chair, he

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