The Wrong Man 153 



' By the way, you seem to have made a mistake about 

 the Wenhastons. Sh* George does not own the property 

 near yours, nor, indeed, any other property for the 

 matter of that. The young fellow who w^as with him 

 that day you met him at the club, Hugh Wenhaston, is 

 the owner of all that place, though the title is in the 

 other branch of the family. Not less than 30,000Z. a 

 year Hugh Wenhaston has, they say, and they swear by 

 him down in Wiltshire as the best fellow in the w^orld. 

 He has set Sir George on his legs two or three times, 

 but I'm told he's gone another mucker, and that your 

 man is disgusted this time, and says he won't do any 

 more, though I suppose he will, as usual.' 



Now, when Mr. Higgs had run up to town a few days 

 before, he had met Sir George again, had asked him to 

 lunch, Sir George had accepted, Mr. Higgs had amiably 

 tried to put him on a good thing in the City, and from 

 this had come an acknowledgment from the baronet 

 — made artfully and with a purpose— that he was 

 temporarily pressed for money. The end of it was that 

 Higgs, never doubting that Sir George was the owner of 

 Wenhaston, had advanced him 5,000/. ; whereas he had 

 been a little patronising to Hugh, while his daughter, he 

 knew, had not tried to be more agreeable than usual, 

 and altogether they had not got on very well, he saw. 

 But they would for the future ! Wenhaston should 

 really shoot a stag to-morrow, if he could hit one when 

 he had the chance ; in fact, nothing should be neglected 

 to make him enjoy himself ; and so the old hypocrite 

 strolled up and down before the house, ready to welcome 

 his guest and condole with him on the ' bad luck ' which 

 he must, of course, inevitably have had after that letter 

 to Donald. 



