CHAPTER III

THE TAX COLLECTOR “Gentlemen,” the fat, florid personage, who had entered almost on the heels of the commissionaire announcing him, exclaimed, “my name is John Cope—John Bodham Cope, M.P. You may have heard of me. I have come to see whether you can rid me of the most pestilential, idiotic, criminal persecution that ever man had to endure.” “Won’t you take a seat?” Mr. Jennerton invited, half rising from behind his writing table. The newcomer advanced to the client’s chair and subsided into its comfortable depths. H…