THE MYSERIOUS MAN WITH¦¦¦¦¦¦.. Lothar is a German by birth and descent. But by education he is quite as much an Englishman as a 'Deutscher', and by affection much more the former. His life has been spent pretty equally between the two countries, and he flatters himself he speaks both languages without any foreign accent. He is connected with a large and important firm of engineers. He had been bred up to the profession, and was credited with a certain amount of 'talent; and he was considered - and, with all modesty, he deserved the opinion - steady and reliable, so that he had already attained a fair position in the house, and was looked upon as a "rising man'. But he was still young, and he came very near once to making a great mess of a certain affair.