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THE EPISODE OF THE JAPANNED DISPATCH-BOX
241

hands, and give them up again of my own free will, you must see that I mean it.

'I will end, as I began, seriously. My trade has not quite crushed out of me all germs or relics of better feeling; and when I see a millionaire behave like a man, I feel ashamed to take advantage of that gleam of manliness.


Still a rogue.

'Yours, with a tinge of penitence, but still a rogue,

Cuthbert Clay.'

The first thing Charles did on receiving this strange communication was to bolt downstairs and inquire for the dispatch-box. It had just arrived by Eagle Express Company. Charles rushed up to our rooms again, opened it feverishly, and counted his