Wingrave broke the seal, and read the letter through. Afterwards he
tore it into small pieces and threw them into the grate.

"What do you want with me, Mr. Aynesworth?" he asked.

"I want to be your secretary," Aynesworth answered.

"My secretary," Wingrave repeated. "I am much obliged to you, but I am
not requiring anyone in that capacity."

"Pardon me," Aynesworth answered, "but I think you are. You may not
have realized it yet, but if you will consider the matter carefully, I
think you will agree with me that a secretary, or companion of some
sort, is exactly what you do need."

"Out of curiosity," Wingrave remarked, "I should be glad to know why
you think so."

"Certainly," Aynesworth answered. "In the first place, I know the
story of your life, and the unfortunate incident which has kept you
out of society for the last ten years."

"From Lovell, I presume," Wingrave interrupted.

"Precisely," Aynesworth admitted. "Ten years' absence from English
life today means that you return to it an absolute and complete
stranger. You would be like a Cook's tourist abroad, without a guide
or a Baedeker, if you attempted to rely upon yourself. Now I am rather
a Bohemian sort of person, but I have just the sort of all-round