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No one is all black--nor pure white. We are of all shades of grey, from the palest pearl to the dingiest lead. And some of us again are dappled; and others are like the zebra, streaky. The man who called himself Bertie-Norton can perhaps be judged better by his actions than from my description, but inasmuch as I knew him pretty intimately, I may as well tell you something about him and give you the opinion that I, personally, formed concerning him.

His besetting sin was selfishness, and from this the other sins sprang. I should think one would probably be safe in assuming that never in the whole of his life did he take any step that was not to his own advantage; lift a finger to help anyone but himself; or make any investment of time or trouble that would not show a profit--to himself.

Although he was a "schamer," as our Irish groom said of him, I don't, in justice, think that he spent a very great deal of his valuable time in thinking out schemes for his own advantage and advancement. He hadn't that kind of astute and active mind. Rather was it lazy, somewhat unintelligent, and with a marked preference for the policy of laisser-faire. He was not of the stuff of which great defaulting financiers are made, but was an opportunist, and where he saw his opportunity, he took it--at any cost to anybody. He was untruthful, dishonest and unreliable; with a low standard of honour and self-respect. He had done extremely disgraceful things, and was unashamed.