These were marked 'Debt of honour' in the list you handed to us.

Not having been able to obtain any reply to our letters, we sent one of our clerks first to the addresses in London, and afterwards to Oxford.

That clerk, who is well used to such inquiries, could not find trace of any of the gentlemen, or indeed of their existence.

We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that, either there must be some error with regard to (a) names, (b) addresses, or (c) both; or that no such persons exist.

As it would be very unlikely that such errors could occur in all the cases, we can only conclude that there have not been any such persons.