far as it goes. They say he is a man of large fortune, and, as they
believe, highly respectable."

"Is that all?"

"All there was in the report. But Tomlinson--that's my friend--has heard
that he has spent the greater part of his life abroad, and that he made
his money in South America."

The mention of South America interested me, for I had made voyages both to
Rio de Janeiro and several places on the Spanish Main.

"South America is rather vague," I observed. "You might almost as well say
'Southern Asia.' Have you any idea in what part of it?"

"Not the least. I have told you all I know. I should be glad to know more;
but for the present it is quite enough for my purpose. I intend to call
upon Mr. Fortescue."

It is hardly necessary to say that I had no such intention, for having
neither a "position in the county," as the phrase goes, a house of my own,
nor any official connection with the hunt, a call from me would probably
have been regarded, and rightly so, as a piece of presumption. As it
happened, however, I not only called on Mr. Fortescue before the
secretary, but became his guest, greatly to my surprise, and, I have no
doubt, to his, although he was the indirect cause; for had he not bought
Ranger, it is very unlikely that I should have become an inmate of his
house.

It came about in this way. Bertie was so pleased with the result of his