Not that I think Mr.Fortescue is either one or the other.

I learned, from the check he sent me for his subscription, who his bankers are, and through a friend of mine, who is intimate with one of the directors, I got a confidential report about him.

It does not amount to much; but it is satisfactory so 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.