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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40676 ***
+
+This Man's Wife
+By George Manville Fenn
+Published by Ward and Downey, London.
+This edition dated 1887.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE NEW CURATE--CHRISTIE BAYLE'S MISTAKE.
+
+If that hat had occupied its proper place it would have been perched
+upon a stake to scare the sparrows away from the young peas, but the
+wretched weather-beaten structure was upon the old man's head, matching
+well with his coat, as he busied himself that pleasant morning dibbling
+in broccoli-plants with the pointed handle of an old spade.
+
+The soft genial rain had fallen heavily during the night, thoroughly
+soaking the ground, which sent forth a delicious steaming incense
+quivering like visible transparent air in the morning sun.  There had
+been a month's drought, and flower and fruit had languished; but on the
+previous evening dark clouds had gathered above the woods, swept over
+King's Castor, and, as Gemp said, "For twelve mortal hours the rain had
+poured down."
+
+Old Gemp was wrong: it had not poured, but stolen softly from the kindly
+heavens, as if every fertilising drop had been wrapped in liquid silver
+velvet, and no flower was beaten flat, no thirsty vegetable soiled, but
+earth and plant had drunk and drunk during the long night to wake up
+refreshed; the soil was of a rich dark hue, in place of drab, and the
+birds were singing as if they meant to split their throats.
+
+Dr Luttrell's garden was just far enough out of the town for the birds
+to sing.  They came so far, and no farther.  Once in a way, perhaps,
+some reckless young blackbird went right into the elder clump behind the
+mill, close up to the streets, and hunted snails from out of the hollow
+roots, and from the ivy that hung over the stone wall by the great
+water-tank in Thickens's garden; but that was an exception.  Only one
+robin and the sparrows strayed so far in as that.
+
+But with the doctor's garden it was different.  There was the thick
+hawthorn hedge that separated it from the north road, a hedge kept
+carefully clipped, and with one tall stem every twelve yards that was
+never touched, but allowed to grow as it pleased, and to blossom every
+May and June into almond-scented snow, as it was blooming now.  Then
+there was the great laurel hedge, fifteen feet high, on the north; the
+thick shrubbery about the red-bricked gabled house, and the dense ivy
+that covered it from the porch upwards and over Millicent's window, and
+then crawled right up the sides to the chimney stacks.
+
+There were plenty of places for birds, and, as they were never
+disturbed, the doctor's was a haven where nests were made, eggs laid,
+and young hatched, to the terrible detriment of the doctor's fruit; but
+he only gave his handsome grey head a rub and laughed.
+
+That delicious June morning as the line was stretched over the bed that
+had been so long prepared, and the plants that had been nursed in a
+frame were being planted, the foreshortening of the old man's figure was
+rather strange, so strange that as he came along the road looking over
+the hedge, and taking in long breaths of delicious scents, the Reverend
+Christie Bayle, the newly-appointed curate of St Anthony's, paused to
+watch the planting.
+
+He was tall, slight, and pale, looking extremely youthful in his black
+clerical attire; but it was the pallor of much hard study, not of
+ill-health, for as he had come down the road it was with a free elastic
+stride, and he carried his head as a man does who feels that he is young
+and full of hope, and thinks that this world is, after all, a very
+beautiful place.
+
+But it was a delicious June morning.
+
+True, but the Reverend Christie Bayle was just as light and elastic when
+he walked back to his lodgings, through the rain on the previous night,
+and without an umbrella.  He had caught himself whistling, too, several
+times, and checked himself, thinking that, perhaps, he ought to cease;
+but somehow--it was very dark--he was thoroughly light-hearted, and he
+had the feeling that he had made a poor weak old woman more restful at
+heart during his chat with her by her bedside, and so he began whistling
+again.
+
+He was not whistling now as he stopped short, looking over the hedge,
+watching the foreshortened figure coming down towards him, with a leg on
+either side of the line, the dibber in one hand, a bunch of
+broccoli-plants in the other.  The earth was soft, and the old man's arm
+strong, while long practice had made him clever.  He had no rule, only
+his eye and the line for guidance; but, as he came slowly down the row,
+he left behind him, at exactly two feet apart, the bright green
+tightly-set plants.
+
+_Whig_! went the dibber: in went a plant; there was a quick poke or two,
+the soft earth was round the stem, and the old man went on till he
+reached the path, straightened himself, and began to softly rub the
+small of his back with the hand that held the tool.
+
+"Good-morning," said the curate.
+
+"Morning."
+
+"Ladies at home?"
+
+"No, they've gone up to the town shopping.  Won't be long."
+
+"Do you think they'd mind if I were to wait?"
+
+"Mind?  No.  Come and have a look round."
+
+"Peculiarity of the Lincolnshire folk, that they rarely say _sir_ to
+their superiors," mused the Reverend Christie Bayle, as he entered the
+garden.  "Perhaps they think we are not their superiors, and perhaps
+they are right; for what am I better than that old gardener?"
+
+"Nice rain."
+
+"Delicious!  By Geo--I--ah, you have a beautiful garden here."
+
+The old man gave him a droll look, and the curate's, face turned
+scarlet, for that old college expression had nearly slipped out.
+
+"Yes, it's a nice bit of garden, and pretty fruitful considering.  You
+won't mind my planting another row of these broccoli?"
+
+"Not a bit.  Pray go on, and I can talk to you.  Seems too bad for me to
+be doing nothing, and you breaking your back."
+
+"Oh, it won't break my back; _I'm_ used to it.  Well, how do you like
+King's Castor?"
+
+"Very much.  The place is old and quaint, and I like the country.  The
+people are a little distant at present.  They are not all so sociable as
+you are."
+
+"Ah, they don't know you yet.  There: that's done.  Now I'm going to
+stick those peas."
+
+He thrust the dibber into the earth, kicked the soil off his heavy
+boots, and came out on to the path rubbing his hands and looking at
+them.
+
+"Shake hands with you another time."
+
+"To be sure.  Going to stick those peas, are you?"
+
+"Yes.  I've the sticks all ready."
+
+The old man went to the top of the path, and into a nook where, already
+sharpened, were about a dozen bundles of clean-looking ground-birch
+sticks full of twigs for the pea tendrils to hold on by as they climbed.
+
+The old fellow smiled genially, and there was something very pleasant in
+his clear blue eyes, florid face, and thick grey beard, which--a
+peculiarity in those days--he wore cut rather short, but innocent of
+razor.
+
+"Shall I carry a bundle or two down?" said the curate.
+
+"If you like."
+
+The Reverend Christie Bayle did like, and he carried a couple of bundles
+down to where the peas were waiting their support.  And then--they
+neither of them knew how it happened, only that a question arose as to
+whether it was better to put in pea-sticks perpendicular or diagonal,
+the old man being in favour of the upright, the curate of the slope--
+both began sticking a row, with the result that, before a quarter of a
+row was done, the curate had taken off his black coat, hung it upon the
+gnarled Ripston-pippin-tree, rolled up his shirt sleeves over a pair of
+white, muscular arms, and quite a race ensued.
+
+Four rows had been stuck, and a barrow had been fetched and a couple of
+spades, for the digging and preparing of a patch for some turnips, when,
+spade in hand, the curate paused and wiped his forehead.  "You seem to
+like gardening, parson."
+
+"I do," was the reply.  "I quite revel in the smell of the newly turned
+earth on a morning like this, only it makes me so terribly hungry."
+
+"Ah, yes, so it does me.  Well, let's dig this piece, and then you can
+have a mouthful of lunch with me."
+
+"Thank you, no; I'll help you dig this piece, and then I must go.  I'll
+come in another time.  I want to see more of the garden."
+
+There was about ten minutes' steady digging, during which the curate
+showed that he was no mean hand with the spade, and then the old man
+paused for a moment to scrape the adherent soil from the broad blade.
+
+"My master will be back soon," he said; "and then there'll be some
+lunch; and, oh! here they are."
+
+The Reverend Christie Bayle had been so intent upon lifting that great
+spadeful of black earth without crumbling, that he had not heard the
+approaching footsteps, and from behind the yew hedge that sheltered them
+from the flower-garden, two ladies and a tall, handsome-looking man
+suddenly appeared, awaking the curate to the fact that he was in his
+shirt sleeves, digging, with his hat on a gooseberry-bush, his coat in
+an apple-tree, and his well-blackened boots covered with soil.
+
+He was already flushed with his exercise.  He turned of a deeper red
+now, as he saw the pleasant-looking, elderly lady give her silvery-grey
+curls a shake, the younger lady gaze from one to the other as if
+astonished, and the tall, dark gentleman suppress a smile as he raised
+his eyebrows slightly, and seemed to be amused.
+
+The curate thrust his spade into the ground, bowed hurriedly, took a
+long step and snatched his hat from the gooseberry-bush, and began to
+hastily roll down his sleeves.
+
+"Oh, never mind them," said his companion.  "Adam was not ashamed of his
+arms.  Here, my dears, this is our new curate, Mr Bayle, the first
+clergyman we've had who could use a spade.  Mr Bayle--my wife, my
+daughter Millicent.  Mr Hallam, from the bank."
+
+The Reverend Christie Bayle's face was covered with dew, and he longed
+to beat a retreat from the presence of the pleasant-faced elderly lady;
+to make that retreat a rout, as he met the large, earnest grey eyes of
+"my daughter Millicent," and saw as if through a mist that she was fair
+to see--how fair in his agitation he could not tell; and lastly, to
+rally and form a stubborn front, as he bowed to the handsome,
+supercilious man, well-dressed, perfectly at his ease, and evidently
+enjoying the parson's confusion.
+
+"We are very glad you have come to see us, Mr Bayle," said the elderly
+lady, smiling, and shaking hands warmly.  "Of course we knew you soon
+would.  And so you've been helping Dr Luttrell."
+
+"The doctor!" thought the visitor with a mental groan; "and I took him
+for the gardener!"
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWO.
+
+SOME INTRODUCTIONS AND A LITTLE MUSIC.
+
+The reception had been so simple and homely, that, once having secured
+his coat and donned it, the doctor's volunteer assistant felt more at
+his ease.  His disposition to retreat passed off, and, in despite of all
+refusal, he was almost compelled to enter the house, Mrs Luttrell
+taking possession of him to chat rather volubly about King's Castor and
+the old vicar, while from time to time a few words passed with
+Millicent, at whom the visitor gazed almost in wonder.
+
+She was so different from the provincial young lady he had set up in his
+own mind as a type.  Calm, almost grave in its aspect, her face was
+remarkable for its sweet, self-contained look of intelligence, and the
+new curate had not been many minutes in her society before he was aware
+that he was conversing with a woman as highly cultivated as she was
+beautiful.
+
+Her sweet, rich voice absolutely thrilled, while her quiet
+self-possession sent a pang through him, as he felt how young, how
+awkward, and wanting in confidence he must seem in her eyes, which met
+his with a frank, friendly look that was endorsed during conversation,
+as she easily and pleasantly helped him out of two or three verbal bogs
+into which he had floundered.
+
+After a walk through the garden, they had entered the house, where Mrs
+Luttrell had turned suddenly upon her visitor, to confuse him again by
+her sudden appeal.
+
+"Did you ever see such a straw hat as that, Mr Bayle?"
+
+"Oh, it's an old favourite of papa's, Mr Bayle," interrupted Millicent,
+turning to smile at the elderly gentleman taking the dilapidated straw
+from his head to hang it upon one particular peg.  "He would not enjoy
+the gardening so much without that."
+
+The tall handsome man left at the end of a few minutes.  Business was
+his excuse.  He had met the ladies, and just walked down with them, he
+told the doctor.
+
+"But you'll come in to-night, Mr Hallam?  We shall expect you," said
+Mrs Luttrell warmly.
+
+"Oh, of course!" said Millicent, as Mr Hallam, from the bank,
+involuntarily turned to her; and her manner was warm but not conscious.
+
+"I shall be here," he said quietly; and after a quiet friendly
+leave-taking, Christie Bayle felt relieved, and as if he could be a
+little more at his ease.
+
+It was not a success though, and when he in turn rose to go, thinking
+dolefully about his dirty boots as compared with the speckless
+Wellingtons of the other visitor, and after feeling something like a
+throb of pleasure at being warmly pressed to step in without ceremony
+that evening, he walked to his apartments in the main street, irritated
+and wroth with himself, and more dissatisfied than he had ever before
+felt in his life.
+
+"I wish I had not come," he said to himself.  "I'm too young, and what's
+worse, I _feel_ so horribly young.  That supercilious Mr Hallam was
+laughing at me; the old lady treated me as if I were a boy; and Miss
+Luttrell--"
+
+He stopped thinking, for her tall graceful presence seemed before him,
+and he felt again the touch of her cool, soft, white hand.
+
+"Yes; she talked to me as if I were a boy, whom she wanted to cure of
+being shy.  I am a boy, and it's my own fault for not mixing more with
+men."
+
+"Bah!  What an idiot I was!  I might have known it was not the gardener.
+He did not talk like a servant, but I blundered into the idea, and went
+on blindfold in my belief.  What a ridiculous _debut_ I made there, to
+be sure, where I wanted to make a good impression!  How can I profess to
+teach people like that when they treat me as if I were a boy?  I can
+never show my face there again."
+
+He felt in despair, and his self-abasement grew more bitter as the day
+went on.  It would be folly, he thought, to go to the doctor's that
+evening; but, as the time drew near, he altered his mind, and at last,
+taking a small case from where it rested upon a bookshelf, he thrust it
+into his pocket and started, his teeth set, his nerves strung, and his
+whole being bent upon the determination to show these people that he was
+not the mere bashful boy they thought him.
+
+It was a deliciously soft, warm evening, and as he left the town behind
+with its few dim oil lamps, the lights that twinkled through the trees
+from the doctor's drawing-room were like so many invitations to him to
+hurry his feet, and so full was his mind of one of the dwellers beneath
+the roof that, as he neared the gate, he was not surprised to hear
+Millicent's voice, sweet, clear, and ringing.  It hastened his steps.
+He did not know why, but it was as if attracting--positively magnetic.
+The next moment there was the low, deep-toned rich utterance of a man's
+voice--a voice that he recognised at once as that of Mr Hallam, from
+the bank; and if this was magnetic, it was from the negative pole, for
+Christie Bayle stopped.
+
+He went on again, angry, he knew not why, and the next minute was being
+introduced on the lawn to a thin, careworn, middle-aged man, and a tall,
+bony, aquiline lady, as Mr and Mrs Trampleasure, Mrs Luttrell's
+pleasant, sociable voice being drowned almost the next moment by that of
+the bony dame, who in tones resembling those emitted by a brazen
+instrument, said very slowly:
+
+"How do you do?  I saw you last Sunday.  Don't you think it is getting
+too late to stop out on the grass?"
+
+"Yes, yes," said Mrs Luttrell hastily, "the grass is growing damp.
+Milly, dear, take Mr Hallam into the drawing-room."
+
+The pleasant flower-decked room, with its candles and old-fashioned oil
+lamp, seemed truly delightful to Christie Bayle, for the next hour.  He
+was very young, and he was the new arrival in King's Castor, and
+consequently felt flattered by the many attentions he received.  The
+doctor was friendly, and disposed to be jocose with allusions to
+gardening.  Mr Trampleasure, thin and languid, made his advances, but
+his questions were puzzling, as they related to rates of exchange and
+other monetary matters, regarding which the curate's mind was a blank.
+
+"Not a well-informed young man, my dear," said Mr Trampleasure to his
+wife; whereupon that lady looked at him, and Mr Trampleasure seemed to
+wither away, or rather to shrink into a corner, where Millicent, who
+looked slightly flushed, but very quiet and self-possessed, was turning
+over some music, every piece of which had a strip of ribbon sewn with
+many stitches all up its back.
+
+"Not a well-informed young man, this new curate, Millicent," said Mr
+Trampleasure, trying to sow his discordant seed on more genial soil.
+
+"Not well-informed, uncle?" said the daughter of the house, looking up
+wide-eyed and amused, "why, I thought him most interesting."
+
+"Oh! dear me, no, my dear.  Quite ignorant of the most everyday matters.
+I just asked him--"
+
+"Are you going to give us some music, Miss Luttrell?" said a deep, rich
+voice behind them, and Millicent turned round smiling.
+
+"I was looking out two of your songs, Mr Hallam.  You will sing
+something?"
+
+"If you wish it," he said quietly, and there was nothing impressive in
+his manner.
+
+"Oh, we should all be glad.  Mamma is so fond of your songs."
+
+"I must make the regular stipulation," said Mr Hallam smiling.
+"Banking people are very exacting: they do nothing without being paid."
+
+"You mean that I must sing as well," said Millicent.
+
+"Oh, certainly.  And," she added eagerly, "Mr Bayle is musical.  I will
+ask him to sing."
+
+"Yes, do," said Hallam, with a shade of eagerness in his voice.  "He
+cannot refuse you."
+
+She did not know why, but as Millicent Luttrell heard these words,
+something like regret at her proposal crossed her mind, and she glanced
+at where Bayle was seated, listening to Mrs Trampleasure, who was
+talking to him loudly--so loudly that her voice reached their ears.
+
+"I should be very glad indeed, Mr Bayle, if, when you call upon us, you
+would look through Edgar and Edmund's Latin exercises.  I'm quite sure
+that the head master at the grammar school does not pay the attention to
+the boys that he should."
+
+To wait until Mrs Trampleasure came to the end of a conversational
+chapter, would have been to give up the singing, so Millicent sat down
+to the little old-fashioned square piano, running her hands skilfully
+over the keys, and bringing forth harmonious sounds.  But they were the
+_aigue_ wiry tones of the modern zither, and Christie Bayle bent forward
+as if attracted by the sweet face thrown up by the candles, and turned
+slightly towards Hallam, dark, handsome, and self-possessed, standing
+with one hand resting on the instrument.
+
+"I don't like music!" said Mrs Trampleasure, in a very slightly subdued
+voice.
+
+"Indeed!" said Bayle starting, for his thoughts were wandering, and an
+unpleasant, indefinable feeling was stealing over him.
+
+"I think it a great waste of time," continued Mrs Trampleasure.  "Do
+you like it, Mr Bayle?"
+
+"Well, I must confess I am very fond of it," he replied.
+
+"But you don't play anything," said the lady with quite a look of
+horror.
+
+"I--I play the flute--a little," faltered the curate.
+
+"Well," said Mrs Trampleasure austerely, "we learn a great many habits
+when we are young, Mr Bayle, that we leave off when we grow older.  You
+are youngs Mr Bayle."
+
+He looked up in her face as if she had wounded him, her words went so
+deeply home, and he replied softly:
+
+"Yes, I'm afraid I am very young."
+
+Just then the doctor came and laid his hand upon Mrs Trampleasure's
+lips.
+
+"Silence!  One tablespoonful to be taken directly.  Hush, softly, not a
+word;" and he stood over his sister--with a warning index finger held
+up, while in a deep, thrilling baritone voice Mr Hallam from the bank
+sang "Treasures of the Deep."
+
+A dead silence was preserved, and the sweet rich notes seemed to fill
+the room and float out where the dewy flowers were exhaling their odours
+on the soft night air.  The words were poetical, the pianoforte
+accompaniment was skilfully played, and, though perhaps but slightly
+cultivated, the voice of the singer was modulated by that dramatic
+feeling which is given but to few, so that the expression was natural,
+and, without troubling the composer's marks, the song appealed to the
+feelings of the listeners, though in different ways.
+
+"Bravo! bravo!" cried Mr Trampleasure, crossing to the singer.
+
+"He has a very fine voice," said Dr Luttrell in a quiet, subdued way;
+and his handsome face wrinkled a little as he glanced towards the piano.
+
+"Yes, yes, it's very beautiful," said Mrs Luttrell, fingering a
+bracelet round and round, "but I wish he wouldn't, dear; I declare it
+always makes me feel as if I wanted to cry.  Ah! here's Sir Gordon."
+
+Pleasant, sweet-faced Mrs Luttrell crossed the room to welcome a new
+arrival in the person of a remarkably well-preserved elderly gentleman,
+dressed with a care that told of his personal appearance being one of
+the important questions of his life.  There was a suspicion of the
+curling tongs about his hair, which was of a glossy black that was not
+more natural in hue than that of his carefully-arranged full whiskers.
+There was a little black patch, too, beneath the nether lip that matched
+his eyebrows, which seemed more regular and dark than those of gentlemen
+as a rule at his time of life.  The lines in his face were not deep, but
+they were many, and, in short, he looked, from the curl on the top of
+his head, down past his high black satin stock, well-padded coat,
+pinched waist, and carefully strapped down trousers over his painfully
+small patent leather boots, like one who had taken up the challenge of
+Time, and meant to fight him to the death.
+
+"Good evening, Mrs Luttrell.  Ah! how do, doctor?  My dear Miss
+Luttrell, I've been seeing your fingers in the dark as I waited
+outside."
+
+"Seeing my fingers, Sir Gordon?"
+
+"Yes; an idea--a fancy of mine," said the newcomer, bending over the
+hand he took with courtly old-fashioned grace.  "I heard the music, and
+the sounds brought the producers before my eyes.  Hallam, my dear sir,
+you have a remarkably fine voice.  I've known men, sir, at the London
+Concerts, draw large incomes on worse voices than that!"
+
+"You flatter me, Sir Gordon."
+
+"Not at all, sir," said the newcomer shortly.  "_I_ never stoop to
+flatter any one, not even a lady.  Miss Luttrell, do I?"
+
+"You never flattered me," said Millicent, smiling.
+
+"Never.  It is a form of insincerity I detest.  My dear Mrs Luttrell,
+you should make your unworthy husband take that to heart."
+
+"Why, I never flatter," said the doctor warmly.
+
+"How dare you say so, sir, when you are always flattering your patients,
+and preaching peace when there is no peace?  Ah, yes, I've heard of
+him," he said in an undertone.  "Introduce me."
+
+The formal introduction took place, and the last comer seated himself
+beside the new curate.
+
+"I'm very glad to meet you, Mr Bayle.  Glad to see you here, too, sir.
+Charming family this; doctor and his wife people to make friends.  Eh!
+singing again?  Hah!  Miss Luttrell.  Have you heard her sing?"
+
+"No, she has not sung since I have been here."
+
+"Then prepare yourself for a treat, sir.  I flatter myself I know what
+singing is.  It is the singing of one of our _prima donnas_ without the
+artificiality."
+
+"I think I heard Sir Gordon say he did not flatter," said Bayle quietly.
+
+"Thank you," said the old beau, looking round sharply; "but I shall not
+take the rebuke.  You have not heard her sing.  Oh, I see," he
+continued, raising his gold-rimmed eye-glass, "a duet."
+
+There was again silence, as after the prelude Millicent's voice rose
+clear and thrilling in the opening of one of the simple old duets of the
+day; and as she sang with the effortless ease of one to whom song was a
+gift, Sir Gordon bent forward, swaying himself slightly to the music,
+but only to stop short and watch with gathering uneasiness in his
+expression, the rapt earnestness of Christie Bayle as he seemed to drink
+in like some intoxicating draught the notes that vibrated through the
+room.  He drew a deep breath, and sat up rather stiffly as she ended,
+and Mr Hallam from the bank took up the second verse.  If anything, his
+voice sounded richer and more full; and again the harmony was perfect
+when the two voices, soprano and baritone, blended, and rose and fell in
+impassioned strains, and then gradually died off in a soft, sweet, final
+chord, that the subdued notes of the piano, wiry though they were,
+failed to spoil.
+
+"You are not fond of music?" said Sir Gordon, making Bayle, who had been
+still sitting back rather stiffly, and with his eyes closed, start, as
+he replied:
+
+"Who?  I?  Oh, yes, I love it!" he replied hastily.
+
+"Young! young!" said Sir Gordon to himself as he rose and crossed the
+room to congratulate Millicent on her performance--Hallam giving way as
+he approached--saying to himself: "I'm beginning to wish we had not
+engaged him, good a man as he is."
+
+"Yes, I'm very fond of that duet," said Millicent.  "Excuse me, Sir
+Gordon, here's Miss Heathery."
+
+She crossed to the door to welcome a lady in a very tight evening dress
+of cream satin--tight, that is, in the body--and pinched in by a broad
+sash at the waist, but the sleeves were like two cream-coloured spheres,
+whose open mouths hung down as if trying to swallow the long crinkly
+gloves that the wearer kept drawing above her pointed elbows, and which
+then slipped down.
+
+It is a disrespectful comparison, but it was impossible to look at Miss
+Heathery's face without thinking of a white rabbit.  One of Nature's
+paradoxical mysteries, no doubt, for it was not very white, nor were her
+eyes pink, and the sausage-shaped, brown curls on either side of her
+forehead, backed by a great shovel-like, tortoise-shell comb, in no wise
+resembled ears; but still the fact remained, and even Christie Bayle, on
+being introduced to the elderly bashful lady, thought of the rabbit, and
+actually blushed.
+
+"You are just in time to sing, Miss Heathery," said Millicent.
+
+Miss Heathery could not; but there was a good deal of pressing, during
+which the lady's eyes rolled round pleadingly from speaker to speaker,
+as if saying, "Press me a little more, and I will."
+
+"You must sing, my dear," said Mrs Luttrell in a whisper.  "Make haste,
+and then Millicent's going to ask Mr Bayle, and you must play the
+accompaniment."  Miss Heathery said, "Oh, really!" and Sir Gordon
+completed the form by offering his arm, and leading the little lady to
+the piano, taking from her hands her reticule, made in pale blue satin
+to resemble a butterfly; after that her gloves.
+
+Then, after a good deal of arrangement of large medical folios upon a
+chair to make Miss Heathery the proper height, she raised her shoulders,
+the left becoming a support to her head as she lifted her chin and gazed
+into one corner of the room.
+
+Christie Bayle was a lover of natural history, and he said to himself,
+"How could I be so rude as to think she looked like a white rabbit?  She
+is exactly like a bird."
+
+It was only that a change that had come over the lady, who was now
+wonderfully bird-like, and, what was quite to the point, like a bird
+about to sing.
+
+She sang.
+
+It was a tippity-tippity little tinkling song, quite in accordance with
+the wiry, zither-like piano, all about "dewy twilight lingers," and
+harps "touched by fairy fingers," and appeals to some one to "meet me
+there, love," and so on.
+
+The French say we are not a polite nation.  We may not be as to some
+little bits of outer polish, but at heart we are, and never more so than
+at a social gathering, when some terrible execution has taken place
+under the name of music.  It was so here, for, moved by the feeling that
+the poor little woman had done her best, and would have been deeply
+wounded had she not been asked to sing, all warmly thanked Miss
+Heathery; and directly after, Christie Bayle, with his ears still
+burning from the effects of the performance, found himself beside the
+fair singer, trying to talk of King's Castor and its surroundings.
+
+"I would rather not ask him, mamma dear," said Millicent at the other
+side of the room.
+
+"But you had better, my dear.  I know he is musical, and he might feel
+slighted."
+
+"Oh, yes, he's a good fellow, my dear; I like him," said the doctor
+bluffly.  "Ask him."
+
+With a curious shrinking sensation that seemed somehow vaguely connected
+with Mr Hallam from the bank, and his eagerness earlier in the evening,
+Millicent crossed to where Bayle was seated, and asked him if he would
+sing.
+
+"Oh, no," he said hastily, "I have no voice!"
+
+"But we hear that you are musical, Mr Bayle," said Millicent in her
+sweet, calm way.
+
+"Oh, yes, I am.  Yes, I am a little musical."
+
+"Pray sing then," she said, now that she had taken the step, forgetting
+the diffident feeling; "we are very simple people here, and so glad to
+have a fresh recruit in our narrow ranks."
+
+"Yes, pray sing, Mr Bayle; we should be so charmed."
+
+"I--er--I really--"
+
+"Oh, but do, Mr Bayle," said Miss Heathery again sweetly.
+
+"I think you will oblige us, Mr Bayle," said Millicent smiling; and as
+their eyes met, if the request had been to perform the act of Marcus
+Curtius on foot, and with a reasonable chance of finding water at the
+bottom to break the fall, Christie Bayle would have taken the plunge.
+
+"Have you anything I know?" he said despairingly.
+
+"I know," cried Miss Heathery, with a sort of peck made in bird-like
+playfulness.  "Mr Bayle can sing `They bid me forget thee.'"
+
+"Full many a shaft at random sent, hits," et cetera.  This was a chance
+shot, and it struck home.
+
+"I think--er--perhaps, I could sing that," stammered Bayle, and then in
+a fit of desperation--"I'll try."
+
+"I have it among my music, Millicent dear.  May I play the
+accompaniment?"
+
+Miss Heathery meant to look winning, but she made Bayle shiver.
+
+"If you will be so good, Miss Heathery;" and the piece being found and
+spread out, Christie Bayle, perspiring far more profusely than when he
+was using the doctor's spade, stood listening to the prelude, and then
+began to sing, wishing that the dead silence around had been broken up
+by a hurricane, or the loudest thunder that ever roared.
+
+Truth to tell, it was a depressing performance of a melancholy song.
+Bayle's voice was not bad, but his extreme nervousness paralysed him,
+and the accompaniment would have driven the best vocalist frantic.
+
+It was a dismal failure, and when, in the midst of a pleasant little
+chorus of "Thank you's" Christie Bayle left the piano, he felt as if he
+had disgraced himself for ever in the eyes of King's Castor, above all
+in those of this sweetly calm and beautiful woman who seemed like some
+Muse of classic days come back to life.
+
+Every one smiled kindly, and Mrs Luttrell came over, called him "my
+dear" in her motherly way, and thanked him again.
+
+"Only want practice and confidence, sir," said the doctor.
+
+"Exactly," said Sir Gordon; "practise, sir, and you'll soon beat Hallam
+there."
+
+Bayle felt as if he would give anything to be able to retreat; and just
+then he caught Mrs Trampleasure's eyes as she signalled him to come to
+her side.
+
+"She told me she did not like music," he said to himself; and he was
+yielding to his fate, and going to have the cup of his misery filled to
+the brim when he caught Hallam's eye.
+
+Hallam was by the chimney-piece, talking to Mr Trampleasure about bank
+matters; but that look seemed so full of triumphant contempt, that Bayle
+drew his breath as if in pain, and turned to reach the door.
+
+"It was very kind of you to sing when I asked you, Mr Bayle," said that
+sweet low voice that thrilled him; and he turned hastily, seeing again
+Hallam's sneering look, or the glance that he so read.
+
+"I cannot sing," he replied with boyish petulance.  "It was absurd to
+attempt it.  I have only made myself ridiculous."
+
+"Pray do not say that," said Millicent kindly.  "You give me pain.  I
+feel as if it is my fault, and that I have spoiled your evening."
+
+"I--I have had no practice," he faltered.
+
+"But you love music.  You have a good voice.  You must come and try over
+a few songs and duets with me."
+
+He looked at her half-wonderingly, and then moved by perhaps a youthful
+but natural desire to redeem himself, he said hastily:
+
+"I can--play a little--the flute."
+
+"But you have not brought it?"
+
+"Yes," he said hastily.  "Will you play an accompaniment?  Anything, say
+one of Henry Bishop's songs or duets."
+
+Millicent sighed, for she felt regret, but she concealed her chagrin,
+and said quietly, "Certainly, Mr Bayle;" and they walked together to
+the piano.
+
+"Bravo!" cried Sir Gordon.  "No one need be told that Mr Bayle is an
+Englishman."
+
+There was a rather uncomfortable silence as, more and more feeling pity
+and sympathy for their visitor, Millicent began to turn over a volume of
+bound up music, while, with trembling hands, Bayle drew his quaint
+boxwood flute with its brass keys and ivory mounts from its case.
+
+It was a wonderfully different instrument from one of those cocoa-wood
+or metal flutes of the present day, every hole of which is stopped not
+with the fingers but with keys.  This was an old-fashioned affair, in
+four pieces, which had to be moistened at the joints when they were
+stuck together, and all this business the Reverend Christie Bayle went
+through mechanically, for his eyes were fixed upon the music Millicent
+was turning over.
+
+"Let's try that," he said suddenly, in a voice tremulous with eagerness,
+as she turned over leaf after leaf, hesitating at two or three
+songs--"Robin Adair," "Ye Banks and Braes," and another--easy melodies,
+such as a flute player could be expected to get through.  But though she
+had given him plenty of time to choose either of these, he let her turn
+over, and went on wetting the flute joints, and screwing them up till
+she arrived at "I Know a Bank."
+
+"But it is a duet," she said, smiling at him as an elder sister might
+have smiled at a brother she wished to encourage, and who had just made
+another mistake.
+
+"Yes," he said hastily; "but I can take up first one voice and then the
+other, and when it comes to the duet part the piano will hide the want
+of the second voice."
+
+"Or I can play it where necessary," said Millicent, who began to
+brighten up.  Perhaps this was not going to be such a dismal failure
+after all.
+
+"To be sure," he said: "if you will.  There, I think that will do.  Pray
+excuse me if I seem terribly nervous," he whispered.
+
+"Oh! don't apologise, Mr Bayle.  We are all friends here.  I do not
+mind.  I was thinking of you."
+
+"Thank you," he said hastily.  "You are very kind.  Shall we begin?"
+
+"Yes, I am ready," said Millicent, glancing involuntarily at Hallam, who
+was still conversing with Trampleasure, his face perfectly calm, but his
+eyes wearing a singular look of triumph.
+
+"One moment.  Would you mind sounding D?"  Millicent obeyed, and Bayle
+blew a tremulous note upon the flute nearly a quarter of a tone too
+sharp.
+
+This necessitated a certain amount of unscrewing and lengthening which
+made the drops glisten upon Bayle's forehead.
+
+"Poor fellow!" thought Millicent, "how nervous he is!  I wish he were
+not going to play."
+
+"I think that will do," he said at last, after blowing one or two more
+tremulous notes.  "Shall we begin?"  Millicent nodded, giving him a
+smile of encouragement, and after whispering, "Don't mind me, I'll try
+and keep to your time," she ran over the prelude, and shivered as the
+flute took up the melody and began.
+
+It has been said that the flute, of all instruments, most resembles the
+human voice, and to Millicent Luttrell it seemed to wail here piteously
+how it knew a bank whereon the wild thyme grew.  Her hands were moist
+from sympathy for the flautist, and she was striving to play her best
+with the fullest chords so as to hide his weakness, when, as he went on,
+it seemed to her that Bayle was forgetting the presence of listeners and
+growing interested in the beautiful melody he played.  The notes of the
+flute became, moment by moment, more rich and round; they were no longer
+spasmodic, beginning and ending clumsily, but were breathed forth
+softly, with a crescendo and diminuendo where necessary, and so full of
+feeling that the pianiste was encouraged.  She, too, forgot the
+listeners, and yielding to her love of her art, played on.  The slow,
+measured strains were succeeded by the florid runs; but she never
+wondered whether the flautist would succeed, for they were amongst them
+before she knew they were _so_ near, with the flute seeming to trip
+deftly over the most difficult passages without the slightest
+hesitation, the audience thoroughly enjoying the novel performance, till
+the final chord was struck, and followed by a hearty round of applause.
+
+"Oh!  Mr Bayle," cried Millicent, looking up in his flushed face, "I am
+so glad."
+
+Her brightened eyes told him the same tale, for he had thoroughly won
+her sympathy as well as the praise of all present; Mr Hallam from the
+bank being as ready as the rest to thank him for so "delicious a
+rendering of that charming duet."
+
+The rest of that evening was strange and dreamlike to Christie Bayle.
+He played some more florid pieces of music by one Henry Bishop, and he
+took Millicent in to supper.  Then, soon after, he walked home, Sir
+Gordon Bourne being his companion.
+
+After that he sat for some hours thinking and wondering how it was that
+while some men of his years were manly and able to maintain their own,
+he was so boyish and easily upset.
+
+"I'm afraid my old tutor's right," he said; "I want ballast."
+
+Perhaps that was why, when he dropped to sleep and went sailing away
+into the sea of dreams, his voyage was so wild and strange.  Every
+minute some gust of passion threatened to capsize his barque, but he
+sailed on with his dreams growing more wild, the sky around still more
+strange.
+
+It was a restless night for Christie Bayle, B.A.  But the scholar of
+Oriel College, Oxford, was thinking as he had never thought before.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A LITTLE BUSINESS OF THE BANK.
+
+"Would you be kind enough to cash this little cheque for me, Mr
+Thickens?"
+
+The speaker was Miss Heathery, in the morning costume of a plum-coloured
+silk dress, with wide-spreading bonnet of the same material, ornamented
+with several large bows of broad satin ribbon, and an extremely
+dilapidated bird of paradise plume.  She placed her reticule bag, also
+of plum-colour, but of satin--upon the broad mahogany counter of Dixons'
+Bank, Market Place, King's Castor, and tried to draw the bag open.
+
+This, however, was not so easy.  When it was open all you had to do was
+to pull the thick silk cord strings, and it closed up tightly, but there
+was no similar plan for opening a lady's reticule in the year 1818.  It
+was then necessary to insert the forefingers of each hand, knuckle to
+knuckle, force them well down, and then draw, the result being an
+opening, out of which you could extract pocket-handkerchief, Preston
+salts, or purse.  Thin fingers were very useful at such a time, and Miss
+Heathery's fingers were thin; but she wore gloves, and the gloves of
+that period, especially those sold in provincial towns, were not of the
+delicate second-skin nature worn by ladies now.  The consequence was
+that hard-featured, iron-grey haired, closely-shaven Mr James Thickens,
+in his buff waistcoat and stiff white cravat, had to stand for some
+time, with a very large quill pen behind his right ear, waiting till
+Miss Heathery, who was growing very hot and red, exclaimed:
+
+"That's it!" and drew open the bag.
+
+But even then the cheque was not immediately forthcoming, for it had to
+be fished for.  First there was Miss Heathery's pocket-handkerchief,
+delicately scented with otto of roses; then there was the pattern she
+was going to match at Crumple's, the draper's; then her large piece of
+orris root got in the way, and had to be shaken on one side with the
+knitting, and the ball of Berlin wool, when the purse was found in the
+far corner.
+
+Purses, too, in those days were not of the "open sesame" kind popular
+now.  The _porte-monnaie_ was not born, and ladies knitted long silken
+hose, with a slit in the middle, placed ornamental slide-rings and
+tassels thereon, and even went so far sometimes as to make these
+old-fashioned purses of beads.
+
+Miss Heathery's was of netted silk, however, orange and blue, and
+through the reticulations could be seen at one end the metallic twinkle
+of coins, at the other the subdued tint and cornerish distensions of
+folded paper.
+
+"I'm afraid I'm keeping you, Mr Thickens," said the lady in a sweet,
+bird-like chirp, as she drew one slide, and tried to coax the folded
+cheque along the hose, though it refused to be coaxed, and obstinately
+stuck its elbows out at every opening of the net.
+
+Mr Thickens said, "Not at all," and passed his tongue over his dry
+lips, and moved his long fingers as if he were a kind of human actinia,
+and these were his tentacles, involuntarily trying to get at the cheque.
+
+"That's it!" said Miss Heathery again with a satisfied sigh, and she
+handed the paper across the counter.
+
+James Thickens drew down a pair of very strongly-framed, round-eyed,
+silver-mounted spectacles from where they had been resting close to his
+brushed up "Brutus," and unfolded and smoothed out the slip of paper,
+spreading it on the counter, and bending over it so much that his
+glasses would have fallen off but for the fact that a piece of black
+silk shoe-string formed a band behind.
+
+"Two thirteen six," said Mr Thickens, looking up at the lady.
+
+"Yes; two pounds thirteen shillings and sixpence," she replied, in token
+of assent.  And while she was speaking, Mr Thickens took the big quill
+pen from behind his ear, and stood with his head on one side in an
+attitude of attention till the word "sixpence" was uttered, when the pen
+was darted into a great shining leaden inkstand and out again, like a
+peck from a heron's bill, and without damaging the finely-cut point.  A
+peculiar cancelling mark was made upon the cheque, which was carried to
+a railed-in desk.  A great book was opened with a bang, and an entry
+made, the cheque dropped into a drawer, and then, in sharp,
+business-like tones, Mr Thickens asked the question he had been asking
+for the last twenty years.
+
+"How will you have it?"
+
+Miss Heathery chirped out her wishes, and Mr Thickens counted out two
+sovereigns twice over, rattled them into a bright copper shovel, and
+cleverly threw them before the customer's hand.  A half-sovereign was
+treated similarly, but retained with the left hand till half-a-crown and
+a shilling were ready, then all these coins were thrust over together,
+without the copper shovel, and the transaction would have been ended,
+only that Miss Heathery said sweetly: "Would you mind, Mr Thickens,
+giving me some smaller change?"
+
+Mr Thickens bowed, and, taking back the half-crown, changed it for two
+shillings and sixpence, all bearing the round, bucolic countenance of
+King George the Third, upon which Miss Heathery beamed as she slipped
+the coins in the blue and orange purse.
+
+"I hope Mr Hallam is quite well, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Quite well, ma'am."
+
+"And the gold and silver fish?"
+
+"Quite well, ma'am," said Mr Thickens, a little more austerely.
+
+"I always think it so curiously droll, Mr Thickens, your keeping gold
+and silver fish," simpered Miss Heathery.  "It always seems as if the
+pretty things had something to do with the bank, and that their
+scales--"
+
+"Would some day turn into sixpences and half-sovereigns, eh, ma'am?"
+said the bank clerk sharply.  "Yes--exactly, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Ah, well, ma'am, it's a very pretty idea, but that's all.  It isn't
+solid."
+
+"Exactly, Mr Thickens.  My compliments to Mr Hallam.  Good-day."
+
+"If that woman goes on making that joke about my fish many more times, I
+shall kill her!" said James Thickens, giving his head a vicious rub.
+"An old idiot!  I wish she'd keep her money at home.  I believe she
+passes her time in writing cheques, getting 'em changed, and paying the
+money in again, as an excuse for something to do, and for the sake of
+calling here.  _I'm_ not such an ass as to think it's to see me; and as
+to Hallam--well, who knows?  Perhaps she means Sir Gordon.  There's no
+telling where a woman may hang up her heart."
+
+James Thickens returned to his desk after a glance down the main street,
+which looked as solemn and quiet as if there were no inhabitants in the
+place; so still was it, that no explanation was needed for the presence
+of a good deal of fine grass cropping up between the paving-stones.  The
+houses looked clean and bright in the clear sunshine, which made the
+wonderfully twisted and floral-looking iron support of the "George" sign
+sparkle where the green paint was touched up with gold.  The shadows
+were clearly cut and dark, and the flowers in the "George" window almost
+glittered, so bright were their colours.  An elderly lady came across
+the market place, in a red shawl and carrying a pair of pattens in one
+hand, a dead-leaf tinted gingham umbrella in the other, though it had
+not rained for a month and the sky was without a cloud.
+
+That red shawl seemed, as it moved, to give light and animation for a
+few minutes to the place; but as it disappeared round the corner by the
+"George," the place was all sunshine and shadow once more.  The
+uninhabited look came back, and James Thickens pushed up his spectacles
+and began to write, his pen scratching and wheezing over the thick
+hand-made paper till a tremendous nose-blowing and a quick step were
+heard, and the clerk said "Gemp."
+
+The next minute there was, the sharp tap of a stick on the step,
+continued on the floor, and the owner of that name entered with his coat
+tightly buttoned across his chest.
+
+He was a keen-looking man of sixty, with rather obstinate features, and
+above all, an obstinate beard, which seemed as if it refused to be
+shaved, remaining in stiff, grey, wiry patches in corners and on
+prominences, as well as down in little ravines cut deeply in his face.
+His eyes, which were dark and sharp, twinkled and looked inquisitive,
+while, in addition, there was a restless wandering irregularity in their
+movements as if in turn each was trying to make out what its fellow was
+doing on the other side of that big bony nose.
+
+"Morning, Mr Thickens, sir, morning," in a coffee-grinding tone of
+voice; "I want to see the chief."
+
+"Mr Hallam?  Yes; I'll see if he's at liberty, Mr Gemp."
+
+"Do, Mr Thickens, sir, do; but one moment," he continued, leaning over
+and taking the clerk by the coat.  "Don't you think I slight you, Mr
+Thickens; not a bit, sir, not a bit.  But when a man has a valuable
+deposit to make, eh?--you see?--it isn't a matter of trusting this man
+or that; he sees the chief."
+
+Mr Gemp drew himself up, slapped the bulgy left breast of his
+buttoned-up coat, nodded sagely, and blew his nose with a snort like a
+blast on a cow-horn, using a great blue cotton handkerchief with white
+spots.
+
+Mr James Thickens passed through a glass door, covered on the inner
+side with dark green muslin, and returned directly to usher the visitor
+into the presence of Robert Hallam, the business manager of Dixons'
+Bank.
+
+The room was neatly furnished, half office half parlour, and, but for a
+pair of crossed cutlasses over the chimney-piece, a bell-mouthed brass
+blunderbuss, and a pair of rusty flint-lock pistols, the place might
+have been the ordinary sitting-room of a man of quiet habits.  There was
+another object though in one corner, which took from the latter aspect,
+this being the door of the cupboard which, instead of being ordinary
+painted panel, was of strong iron, a couple of inches thick.
+
+"Morning, Mr Hallam, sir."
+
+"Good-morning, Mr Gemp."
+
+The manager rose from his seat at the baize-covered table to shake hands
+and point to a chair, and then, resuming his own, he crossed his legs
+and smiled blandly as he waited to hear his visitor's business.
+
+Mr Gemp's first act was to spread his blue handkerchief over his knees,
+and then begin to stare about the room, after carefully hooking himself
+with his thick oak stick which he passed over his neck and held with
+both hands as if he felt himself to be rather an errant kind of sheep
+who needed the restraint of the crook.
+
+"Loaded?" he said suddenly, after letting his eyes rest upon the
+fire-arms.
+
+"Oh, yes, Mr Gemp, they are all loaded," replied the manager smiling.
+"But I suppose I need not get them down; you are not going to make an
+attack?"
+
+"Me? attack? eh?  Oh, you're joking.  That's a good one.  Ha! ha! ha!"
+
+Mr Gemp's laugh was not pleasant on account of dental defects.  It was
+rather boisterous too, and his neck shook itself free of the crook; but
+he hooked himself again, grew composed, and nodded once more in the
+direction of the chimney.
+
+"Them swords sharp?"
+
+"As razors, Mr Gemp."
+
+"Are they now?  Well, that's a blessing.  Fire-proof, I suppose?" he
+added, nodding towards the safe.
+
+"Fire-proof, burglar-proof, bank-proof, Mr Gemp," said the manager
+smiling.  "Dixons' neglect nothing for the safety of their customers."
+
+"No, they don't, do they?" said Mr Gemp, holding on very tightly to the
+stick, keeping himself down as it were and safe as well.
+
+"No, sir, they neglect nothing."
+
+"I say," said Mr Gemp, leaning forward, after a glance over his
+shoulder towards the bank counter, and Mr Thickens's back, dimly seen
+through the muslin, "does the new parson bank here?"
+
+The manager smiled, and looked very hard at the bulge in his visitor's
+breast pocket, a look which involuntarily made the old man change the
+position of his hooked stick by bringing it down across his breast as if
+to protect the contents.
+
+"Now, my dear Mr Gemp, you do not expect an answer to that question.
+Do you suppose I have ever told anybody that you have been here three
+times to ask me whether Dixons' would advance you a hundred pounds at
+five per cent?"
+
+"On good security, eh?" interposed the old man sharply; "only on good
+security."
+
+"Exactly, my dear sir.  Why, you don't suppose we make advances
+without?"
+
+"No, of course not, eh?  Not to anybody, eh, Mr Hallam?" said the old
+man eagerly.  "You could not oblige me now with a hundred, say at seven
+and a half?  I'm a safe man, you know.  Say at seven and a half per
+cent, on my note of hand.  You wouldn't, would you?"
+
+"No, Mr Gemp, nor yet at ten per cent.  Dixons' are not usurers, sir.
+I can let you have a hundred, sir, any time you like, upon good
+security, deeds or the like, but not without."
+
+"Ha! you are particular.  Good way of doing business, sir.  Hey, but I
+like you to be strict."
+
+"It is the only safe way of conducting business, Mr Gemp."
+
+"I say, though--oh, you are close!--close as a cash-box, Mr Hallam,
+sir; but what do you think of the new parson?"
+
+"Quiet, pleasant, gentlemanly young man, Mr Gemp."
+
+"Yes, yes," cried the visitor, hurting himself by using his crook quite
+violently, and getting it back round his neck; "but a mere boy, sir, a
+mere boy.  He's driven me away.  I'm not going to church to hear him
+while there's a chapel.  I want to know what the bishop was a thinking
+about."
+
+"Ah? but he's a scholar and a gentleman, Mr Gemp," said the manager,
+blandly.
+
+"Tchuck! so was the young doctor who set up and only lasted a year.  If
+you were ill, sir, you wouldn't have gone to he; you'd have gone to Dr
+Luttrell.  If I've got vallerable deeds to deposit, I don't go to some
+young clever-shakes who sets up in business, and calls himself a banker:
+I come to Dixons'."
+
+"And so you have some valuable deeds you want us to take care of for
+you, Mr Gemp," said the manager sharply.
+
+"Eh!  I didn't say so, did I?"
+
+"Yes; and you want a hundred pounds.  Shall I look at the deeds?"
+
+Mr Gemp brought his oaken crook down over his breast, and his quick,
+shifty eyes turned from the manager to the lethal weapons over the
+chimney, then to the safe, then to the bank, and Mr Thickens's back.
+
+"I say," he said at last, "arn't you scared about being robbed?"
+
+"Robbed! oh, dear no.  Come, Mr Gemp.  I must bring you to the point.
+Let me look at the deeds you have in your pocket; perhaps there will be
+no need to send them to our solicitor.  A hundred pounds, didn't you
+say?"
+
+The old man hesitated, and looked about suspiciously for a few moments
+before meeting the manager's eyes.  Then he succumbed before the firm,
+keen, searching look.
+
+"Yes," he said slowly, "I said a hundred pounds, but I don't want no
+hundred pounds.  I want you--"
+
+He paused for a few moments with his hands at his breast, as if to take
+a long breath, and then, as if by a tremendous wrench, he mastered his
+fear and suspicion.
+
+"I want you to take care of these for me."
+
+He tore open his breast and brought out quickly a couple of dirty yellow
+parchments and some slips of paper, roughly bound in a little leather
+folio.
+
+The manager stretched his hand across the table and took hold of the
+parchments; but the old man held on by one corner for a few moments till
+Hallam raised his eyebrows and smiled, when the visitor uttered a deep
+sigh, and thrust parchments and little folio hastily from him.
+
+"Lock 'em up in yonder iron safe," he said hoarsely, taking up his blue
+handkerchief to wipe his brow.  "It's open now, but you'll keep it
+locked, won't you?"
+
+"The deeds will be safe, Mr Gemp," said the manager coolly throwing
+open the parchment.  "Ah!  I see, the conveyances to a row of certain
+messuages."
+
+"Yes, sir; row of houses, Gemp's Terrace, all my own, sir; not a penny
+on 'em."
+
+"And these?  Ah, I see, bank-warrants.  Quite right, my dear sir, they
+will be safe.  And you do not need an advance?"
+
+"Tchuck! what should I want with an advance?  There's a good fifteen
+hundred pound there--all my own.  Now you give me a writing, saying
+you've got 'em to hold for me, and that will do."
+
+The manager smiled as he wrote out the document, while Mr Gemp, who
+seemed as much relieved as if he had been eased of an aching tooth, rose
+to make a closer inspection of the loaded pistols and the bell-mouthed
+brass blunderbuss, all of which he tapped gently in turn with the hook
+of his stick.
+
+"There you are, Mr Gemp," said the manager smiling.  "Now you can go
+home and feel at rest, for your deeds and warrants will be secure."
+
+"Yes, sir, to be sure; that's the way," said the old man, hastily
+reading the memorandum, and then placing it in a very old leather
+pocket-book; "but if you wouldn't mind, sir, Mr Hallam, sir, I should
+like to see you lock them all in yonder."
+
+"Well, then, you shall," said the manager good-humouredly and taking up
+the packets he tied them together with some green ferret, swung open the
+heavy door, which creaked upon its pivots, stepped inside, turned a key
+with a rattle, and opened a large iron chest, into which he threw the
+deeds, shut the lid with a clang, locked it ostentatiously, took out the
+key, backed out, and then closed and locked the great door of the safe.
+
+"There, Mr Gemp; I think you'll find they are secure now."
+
+"Safe! safe as the bank!" said the old man with an admiring smile as,
+with a sigh of relief, he picked up his old rough beaver hat from the
+floor, stuck it on rather sidewise, and with a short "good-morning,"
+stamped out, tapping the floor as he went.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr Thickens, sir," he said, pausing at the outer door to
+look back over his shoulder at the clerk.  "I've done my bit o' business
+with the manager.  It's all right."
+
+"Good-morning, Mr Gemp," said Thickens quietly; and then to himself, as
+the tap of the stick was heard going down the street, "An important old
+idiot!"
+
+Several little pieces of business were transacted, and then, according
+to routine, the manager came behind the counter to relieve his
+lieutenant, who put on his hat and went to his dinner.
+
+During his absence the manager took his place at his subordinate's desk,
+and was very busy making a few calculations, after divers references to
+a copy of yesterday's _Times_, which came regularly by coach.
+
+These calculations made him thoughtful, and he was in the middle of one
+when his face changed, and turned of a strange waxen hue, but he
+recovered himself directly.
+
+"Might have expected it," he said softly; and he went on writing as some
+one entered the bank.
+
+The visitor was a thin, dejected-looking youth of about two-and-twenty,
+shabbily dressed in clothes that did not fit him.  His face was of a
+sickly pallor, as if he had just risen from an invalid couch, an idea
+strengthened by the extremely shortly-cut hair, whose deficiency was
+made the more manifest by his wearing a hat a full size too large.  This
+was drawn down closely over his forehead, his pressed-out ears acting as
+brackets to keep it from going lower still.
+
+He was a tamed-down, feeble-looking being, but the spirit was not all
+gone, for as he came down the street, with the genial friendliness of
+all dogs towards one who seems to be a stranger and down in the world,
+Miss Heathery's fat, ill-conditioned terrier, that she pampered under
+the belief that it was a dog of good breed, being in an evil temper
+consequent upon not having been taken for a walk by its mistress, rushed
+out baying, barking, and snapping at the stranger's heels.
+
+"Get out, will you?" he shouted; but the dog barked the more, and the
+stranger looked as if about to run.  In fact he did run a few yards,
+but, as the dog followed, he caught up a flower-pot from a handy
+window-sill--every one had flower-pots at King's Castor--and hurled it
+at the dog.
+
+There was a yell, a crash, and explosion as if of a shell; Miss
+Heathery's dog fled, and, without waiting to encounter the owner of the
+flower-pot, the stranger hurried round the corner, and after an inquiry
+or two, made for the bank.
+
+"Vicious little beast!  Wish I'd killed it," he grumbled, giving the hat
+a hoist behind which necessitated another in front, and then the
+equilibrium adjusting at the sides.  "Wonder people keep dogs," he
+continued.  "A nuisance.  Wish I was a dog--somebody's dog, and well
+fed.  Lead a regular dog's life, and get none of the bones.  Perhaps I
+shall, though, now."
+
+The young man looked anything but a bank customer, but he did not
+hesitate.  Merely stopping to give his coat a drag down, and then,
+tilting his hat slightly, he entered with a swagger, and walked up to
+the broad counter.  Upon this he rested a gloveless hand, an act which
+seemed to give a little more steadiness to his weak frame.
+
+"Rob," he said.
+
+The manager raised his head with an affected start.
+
+"Oh, you don't know me, eh?" said the visitor.  "Well, I s'pose I am a
+bit changed."
+
+"Know you?  You wish to see me?" said Hallam coolly.
+
+"Yes, Mr Robert Hallam; I've come down from London on purpose.  I
+couldn't come before," he added meaningly, "but now I want to have a
+talk with you."
+
+"Stephen Crellock!  Why, you are changed."
+
+"Yes, as aforesaid."
+
+"Well, sir.  What is it you want with me?" said the manager coldly.
+
+"What do I want with you, eh?  Oh, come, that's rich!  You're a lucky
+one, you are.  I go to prison, and you get made manager down here.  Ah!
+you see I know all about it."
+
+"I do not understand you, sir."
+
+"Then I'll tell you, my fine fellow.  Some men never get found out, some
+do; that's the difference between us two.  I've gone to the wall--inside
+it," he added, with a sickly grin.  "You've got to be quite the
+gentleman.  But they'll find you out some day."
+
+"Well, sir, what is this to lead up to?" said Hallam.
+
+"Oh, I say though, Rob Hallam, this is too rich.  Manager here, and
+going, they say, to marry the prettiest girl in the place."  Hallam
+started in spite of his self-command.  "And I suppose I shall be asked
+to the wedding, shan't I?"
+
+"Will you be so good as to explain what is the object of this visit?"
+said Hallam coldly.
+
+"Why, can't you see?  I've come to the bank because I want some money.
+There, you need not look like that, my lad.  It's my turn now, and
+you've got to put things a bit straight for me after what I suffered
+sooner than speak."
+
+"Do you mean you have come here to insult me and make me send for a
+constable?" cried Hallam.
+
+"Yes, if you like," said the young man, leaning forward, and gazing full
+in the manager's face; "send for one if you like.  But you don't like,
+Robert Hallam.  There, I'm a man of few words.  I've suffered a deal
+just through being true to my mate, and now you've got to make it up to
+me."
+
+"You scoun--"
+
+"Sh!  That'll do.  Just please yourself, my fine fellow; only, if you
+don't play fair towards the man who let things go against him without a
+word, I shall just go round the town and say--"
+
+"Silence, you scoundrel!" cried Hallam fiercely; and he caught his
+unpleasant visitor by the arm.
+
+Just then James Thickens entered, as quietly as a shadow, taking
+everything in at a glance, but without evincing any surprise.
+
+"Think yourself lucky, sir," continued Hallam aloud, "that I do not have
+you locked up.  Mr Thickens, see this man off the premises."
+
+Then, in a whisper that his visitor alone could hear, and with a meaning
+look:
+
+"Be quiet and go.  Come to my rooms to-night."
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+DRAWING A DOG'S TEETH.
+
+"I think that's all, Mr Hallam, sir," said Mrs Pinet, looking plump,
+smiling, and contented, as she ran her eyes over the tea-table in the
+bank manager's comfortably-furnished room--"tea-pot, cream, salt,
+pepper, butter, bread,"--she ran on below her breath in rapid
+enumeration, "why, bless my heart, I didn't bring the sauce!"
+
+"Yes, that's all, Mrs Pinet," said the manager in his gravely-polite
+manner.
+
+"But, begging your pardon, it is not, sir; I forgot the sauce."
+
+"Oh! never mind that to-night."
+
+"If you'll excuse me, sir, I would rather," said plump, pleasant-faced
+Mrs Pinet, who supplemented a small income by letting apartments; and
+before she could be checked she hurried out, to return at the end of a
+few minutes, bearing a small round bottle.
+
+"And King of Oude," said the little woman.  "Shall I take the cover,
+sir?"
+
+"If you please, Mrs Pinet?"
+
+"Which it's a pleasure to wait upon such a thorough gentleman," said
+Mrs Pinet to herself as she trotted back to her own region, leaving
+Hallam gazing down at the homely, pleasant meal.
+
+He threw himself into a chair, poured out a cup of the tea, cooled it by
+the addition of some water from a bottle on a stand, and drank it
+hastily.  Then, sitting back, he seemed to be thinking deeply, and
+finally drew up to the table, but turned from the food in disgust.
+
+"Pah!" he ejaculated; but returned to his chair, pulled the loaf in
+half, and then cut off two thick slices, hacked the meat from the bones
+of two hot steaming chops and took a pat of the butter to lay upon one
+of the slices of bread.  This done, his eye wandered round the room for
+a moment or two, and he rose and hastily caught up a newspaper, rolled
+the bread and meat therein, and placed the packet on a shelf before
+pouring out a portion of the tea through the window and then giving the
+slop-basin and cup the appearance of having been used.  This done, he
+sat back in his chair to think, and remained so for quite half-an-hour,
+when Mrs Pinet came with an announcement for which he was quite
+prepared.
+
+"A strange man, sir," said the landlady, looking troubled and smoothing
+down her apron, "a strange young man, sir.  I'm afraid, sir--"
+
+"Afraid, Mrs Pinet?"
+
+"I mean, sir, I'm afraid he's a tramp, sir; but he said you told him to
+come."
+
+"I'm afraid, too, that he is a tramp, Mrs Pinet, poor fellow!  But it's
+quite right, I did tell him to come.  You can show him in."
+
+"In--in here, sir?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs Pinet.  He has been unfortunate, poor fellow! and has come to
+ask for help."
+
+Mrs Pinet sighed, mentally declared that Mr Hallam was a true
+gentleman, and introduced shabby, broken-down and dejected Stephen
+Crellock.
+
+Hallam did not move nor raise his eyes, while the visitor gave a quick,
+furtive look round at all in the room, and Mrs Pinet's departing
+footsteps sounded quite loud.  Then a door was heard to close, and
+Hallam turned fiercely upon his visitor.
+
+"Now, you scoundrel--you miserable gaol-bird, what do you mean by coming
+to me?"
+
+"Mean by coming?  I mean you to do things right.  If you'd had your dues
+you'd have been where I was; only you played monkey and made me cat."
+
+"What?"
+
+"And I had my paws burned while you got the chestnuts."
+
+"You scoundrel!" cried Hallam, rushing to the fireplace and ringing
+sharply, "I'll have the constable and put a stop to this."
+
+"No, no, no, don't, don't, Rob.  I'll do anything you like; I won't say
+anything," gasped the visitor piteously, "only: don't send for the
+constable."
+
+"Indeed but I will," cried Hallam fiercely, as he walked to the door:
+but his visitor made quite a leap, fell at his feet, and clung to his
+legs.
+
+"No, no, don't, don't," he cried hoarsely, and Hallam shook him off,
+opened the door, and called out:
+
+"Never mind, now; I'll ring in a few minutes."
+
+He closed the door and stood scowling at his visitor.
+
+"I did not think you'd be so hard on a poor fellow when he was down,
+Hallam," he whimpered, "I didn't, 'pon my honour."
+
+"Your honour, you dog, you gaol-bird," cried Hallam in a low, angry
+voice.  "How dare you come down and insult me!"
+
+"I--thought you'd help me, that you'd lend your old friend a hand now
+you're so well off, while I am in a state like this."
+
+"And did you come in the right way, you dog, bullying and threatening
+me, thinking to frighten me, just as if you could find a soul to take
+any notice of a word such a blackguard as you would say?  But there,
+I've no time to waste; I've done wrong in bringing you here.  Go and
+tell everybody in the town what you please, how I was in the same bank
+with you in London and you were given into custody for embezzlement, and
+at your trial received for sentence two years' imprisonment."
+
+"Yes, when if I had been a coward and spoken out--"
+
+Hallam made a move towards him, when the poor, weak, broken-down wretch
+cowered lower.
+
+"Don't, Rob; don't, old man," he cried piteously.  "I'll never say a
+word.  I'll never open my lips.  You know I wouldn't be such a coward,
+bad as I am.  But you will help a fellow, won't you?"
+
+"Help you?  What, have you come to me for blackmail?  Why should I help
+you?"
+
+"Because we were old friends, Hallam.  Because I always looked up to
+you, and did what you told me; and you don't know what it has been, Rob,
+you don't indeed!  I used to be a strong fellow, but this two years have
+brought me down till I'm as thin and weak as you see me.  I'm like a
+great girl; least thing makes me cry and sob, so that I feel ashamed of
+myself!"
+
+"Ashamed?  You?" cried Hallam scornfully.
+
+"Yes, I do, 'pon my word, Rob.  But you will help me, won't you?"
+
+"No.  Go to the constable's place, and they'll give you an order for the
+workhouse.  Be off, and if you ever dare to come asking for me again,
+I'll send for the officer at once."
+
+"But--but you will give me a shilling or two, Hallam," said the
+miserable wretch.  "I'm half-starved."
+
+"You deserve to be quite starved!  Now go."
+
+"But, Hallam, won't you believe me, old fellow?  I want to be honest
+now--to do the right thing."
+
+"Go and do it, then," said Hallam contemptuously.  "Be off."
+
+"But give me a chance, old fellow; just one."
+
+"I tell you I'll do nothing for you," cried Hallam fiercely.  "On the
+strength of your having been once respectable, if you had come to me
+humbly I'd have helped you, but you came down here to try and frighten
+me with your noise and bullying.  You thought that if you came to the
+bank you would be able to dictate all your own terms; but you have
+failed, Stephen Crellock: so now go."
+
+"But, Rob, old fellow, I was so--so hard up.  You don't know."
+
+"Are you going before I send for the constable?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I'm going," said the miserable wretch, gathering himself up.
+"I'm sorry I came to you, Hallam.  I thought you would have helped a
+poor wretch, down as I am."
+
+"And you found out your mistake.  A man in my position does not know a
+gaol-bird."
+
+There was a flash from the sunken eyes, and a quick gesture, but the
+flash died out, and the gesture seemed to be cut in half.  Two years'
+hard labour in one of His Majesty's gaols had pretty well broken the
+weak fellow's spirit.  He stepped to the door, glanced round the
+comfortable room, uttered a low moan, and was half out, when Hallam
+uttered sharply the one word "Stop!"
+
+His visitor paused, and looked eagerly round upon him.
+
+"Look here, Stephen Crellock," he said, "I don't like to see a man like
+you go to the dogs without giving him a chance.  There, come back and
+close the door!"
+
+The poor wretch came back hurriedly, and made a snatch at Hallam's hand,
+which was withdrawn.
+
+"No, no, wait till you've proved yourself an honest man," he said.
+
+Crellock's eyes flashed again, but, as before, the flash died out at
+once, and he stood humbly before his old fellow clerk.
+
+Hallam remained silent for a few moments, and then as if he had made up
+his mind, he said: "I ought to hand you over to the constable, that is,
+if I did my duty as manager of Dixons' Bank, and a good member of
+society; but I can't forget that you were once a smart,
+gentlemanly-looking young fellow, who slipped and fell."
+
+Crellock stood bent and humbled, staring at him in silence.
+
+"I'm going to let heart get the better of discipline," continued Hallam,
+"and to-night I'm going to give you five guineas to get back to London
+and make a fresh start; and till that fresh start is made, and you can
+do without it, I'm going to give you a pound a week, if asked for by
+letter humbly, and in a proper spirit."
+
+"Rob!"
+
+"There, there; no words.  I don't want thanks.  I know I'm doing wrong,
+and I hope my weakness will not prove my punishment."
+
+"It shan't, Rob; it shan't," faltered the poor shivering wretch, who had
+hard work to keep back his tears.
+
+"There are four guineas, there's a half, and there are ten shillings in
+silver.  Now go to some decent inn--here is some food for present use--
+get a bed, and to-morrow morning catch the coach, and get back to London
+to seek work."
+
+Hallam handed him the parcel he had made.
+
+"I will, Rob; I will, Mr Hallam, sir, and may--"
+
+"There, that will do," said Hallam, interrupting him.  "Prove all your
+gratitude by making yourself independent as soon as you can.  There, you
+see you have not frightened me into bribing you to be silent."
+
+"No, no, sir.  Oh, no, I see that!" said the poor wretch dolefully.
+"I'm very grateful, I am, indeed, and I will try."
+
+"Go, then, and try," said Hallam shortly.  "Stop a moment."
+
+He rang his bell, and Mrs Pinet entered promptly, glancing curiously at
+the visitor, and then back at her lodger, who paused to give her ample
+time to take in the scene.
+
+"Mrs Pinet," he said at last, and in the coolest and most
+matter-of-fact way, "this poor fellow wants a lodging for the night at
+some respectable place, where they will not be hard upon his pocket."
+
+"Well, sir, then he couldn't do better than go to Mrs Deene's, sir.  A
+very respectable woman, whose husband--"
+
+"Yes, to be sure, Mrs Pinet," said Hallam abruptly; "then you'll show
+him where it is.  Good-night, Stephen; don't waste your money, and I
+hope you will succeed."
+
+"Good-night, sir, good-night," and the dejected-looking object,
+thoroughly cowed by the treatment he had received, followed Hallam's
+landlady to the outer door, where a short colloquy could be heard, and
+then there was a shuffling step passing the window, and the door closed.
+
+"I always expected it," said Hallam to himself, as he stood gazing
+straight before him; "but I've drawn his teeth; he won't bite--he dare
+not.  I think I can manage Master Stephen--I always could."  He stood
+thinking for a few minutes, and then said softly: "Well, what are ten or
+twenty pounds, or forty, if it comes to that!  Yes," he added
+deliberately, "I have done quite rightly, I am sure."
+
+Undoubtedly, as far as his worldly wisdom lay, for it did not take long
+for the news to run round the town that a very shabby-looking fellow had
+been to the bank, evidently with burglarious intentions, but that the
+new manager had seized and held him, while James Thickens placed the big
+brass blunderbuss to his head, and then turned it round and knocked him
+down.  This was Mr Gemp's version; but it was rather spoiled by Mrs
+Pinet when she was questioned, and told her story of Mr Hallam's
+generous behaviour to this poor young man:
+
+"One whom he had known in better days, my dear; and now he has quite set
+him up."
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+A LITTLE BIT OF NEWS.
+
+Time glided very rapidly by at King's Castor, for there were few things
+to check his progress.  People came to the market and did their
+business, and went away.  Most of them had something to do at Dixons'
+Bank, for it was the pivot upon which the affairs of King's Castor and
+the neighbourhood turned.  It was the centre from which radiated the
+commerce of the place.  Pivot or axle, there it was, with a patent box
+full of the oil that makes matters run easily, and so trade and finance
+round King's Castor seemed like some large wheel, that turned gently and
+easily on.
+
+Dixons' had a great deal to do with everybody, but Dixons' was safe, and
+Dixons' was sure.  On every side you heard how that Dixons' had taken
+this or that man by the hand, with the best of results.  Stammers
+borrowed money at five per cent, when he put out that new front.  Morris
+bought his house with Dixons' money, and they held the deeds, so that
+Morris was a man of importance--one of the privileged who paid no rent.
+He paid interest on so many hundred pounds to Dixons' half-yearly, but
+that was interest, not rent.
+
+Old Thomas Dixon seldom came to the bank now, though he was supposed to
+hold the reins of government, which he declined to hand over to his
+junior partners, Sir Gordon Bourne and Mr Andrew Trampleasure.  It was
+his wish that a practised manager should be engaged from London, and
+hence the arrival of Mr Robert Hallam, who wore a much talked-of watch,
+that was by accident shown to Gemp, who learned what a repeater was, and
+read on the inside how that it was a testimonial from Barrow, Fladgate,
+and Range for faithful services performed.
+
+Barrow, Fladgate, and Range were the Lombard Street bankers, who acted
+as Dixons' agents; and the news of that watch spread, and its possession
+was as a talisman to Robert Hallam.
+
+Sir Gordon did not exactly take offence, for he rarely took offence at
+anything; but he felt slighted about the engagement of Hallam, and
+visited the place very little, handing over his duties to Trampleasure,
+who dwelt at the bank, had his private room, did all the talking to the
+farmers who came in, and did nothing more; but everything went smoothly
+and well.  The new manager was the pattern of gentlemanly
+consideration--even to defaulters; and the main thing discussed after
+two years' residence in King's Castor was, whom would he marry?
+
+There were plenty of wealthy farmers' daughters in the neighbourhood;
+several of the tradespeople were rich in money and had marriageable
+girls; but to all and several Mr Hallam of the bank displayed the same
+politeness, and at the end of two years there was quite a feeling of
+satisfaction among the younger ladies of King's Castor at the general
+impression, and that was, that the much-talked-of settler in their midst
+was not a marrying man.
+
+The reason is simple--he could only have married one, and not all.  Many
+were vain enough to think that the good fortune would have come to them.
+But now, so to speak, Mr Hallam of the bank had grown rather stale,
+and the interest was centred upon the new curate.
+
+The gossips were not long in settling his fate.
+
+"I know," said Gemp to a great many people; "gardening, eh?  He! he! he!
+hi! hi! hi!  You wouldn't have thought it in a parson?  But, there, he's
+very young!"
+
+"Yes, he is very young, Mr Gemp," said Mrs Pinet one morning to that
+worthy, who quite occupied the ground that would have been covered by a
+local journal.  For, having retired years back from business, he had--
+not being a reading man--nothing whatever to do but stand at his door
+and see what went on.  "Yes, he is very young, Mr Gemp," said Mrs
+Pinet.  "But poor young man, I suppose he can't help it."
+
+"Help it, no!  Just the age, too, when a fellow's always thinking about
+love.  We know better at our time of life, eh?"
+
+Mrs Pinet, who was one of those plump and rosy ladies with nice elastic
+flesh, which springs up again wherever time has made a crease, so that
+it does not show, bridled a little, and became very much interested in
+her row of geraniums in the parlour window, every one of which had
+lately been made more ornamental by a coat of red lead over its pot.
+For Mrs Pinet did not yet know better.  She had known better five years
+before, when Gemp had asked her to wed; but at the time present she was
+wondering whether, if Mr Thickens at the bank, where her little store
+of money lay, should fail, after all, to make her an offer, it was
+possible that Mr Robert Hallam might think it very nice to have some
+one to go on always taking so much care of his linen as she did, and
+seeing that his breakfast bacon was always nicely broiled, his coffee
+clear, and his dinners exactly as he liked to have them.  Certainly he
+was a good deal younger than she was; but she did not see why the wife
+should not be the elder sometimes, as well as the husband.
+
+Hence it was that Gemp's words jarred.
+
+"Seems rum, don't it?" continued Gemp.  "I went by the other day, and
+there he was with his coat off, helping Luttrell, wheeling barrows, and
+I've seen him weeding before now."
+
+"Well, I'm sure it's very kind of him," said Mrs Pinet quickly.  She
+could not speak tartly; her physique and constitution forbade.
+
+"Oh, yes, it's very kind of him indeed; but he'd better be attending to
+his work."
+
+"I'm sure he works very hard in the place."
+
+"Oh, yes.  Of course he does; but, don't you see?"
+
+"See?  No!  See what?"
+
+"He--he--he!  And you women pretend to be so sharp about these things.
+What does he go there gardening for?"
+
+"Why, goodness gracious me, Mr Gemp, you don't think--"
+
+"Think?  Why, I'm sure of it.  I see a deal of what's going on, Mrs
+Pinet.  I never look for it, but it comes.  Why, he's always there.  He
+helps Luttrell when he's at home; and old mother Luttrell talks to him
+about her jam.  That's his artfulness; he isn't too young for that.
+Gets the old girl on his side."
+
+"But do you really think--Why, she's never had a sweetheart yet."
+
+"That we know of, Mrs P.," said Gemp, with a meaning look.
+
+"She never has had," said Mrs Pinet emphatically, "or we should have
+known.  Well, she's very handsome, and very nice, and I hope they'll be
+very happy.  But do you really think it's true?"
+
+"True?  Why, he's always there of an evening, tootling on the flute and
+singing."
+
+"Oh, but that's nothing; Mr Hallam goes there too, and has some music."
+
+"Ay, but Hallam don't go out with her picking flowers, and botalising.
+I've often seen 'em come home together with arms full o' rubbish; and
+one day, what do you think?"
+
+"Really, Mr Gemp!"
+
+"I dropped upon 'em down in a ditch, and when they saw me coming, they
+pretended that they were finding little snail-shells."
+
+"Snail-shells?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, and he pulls out a little magnifying-glass for her to look
+through.  It may be a religious way of courting, but I say it's
+disgusting."
+
+"Really, Mr Gemp!" said Mrs Pinet, bridling.
+
+"Ay, it is, ma'am.  I like things open and above board--a young man
+giving a young woman his arm, and taking her out for a walk reg'lar, and
+not going out in the lanes, and keeping about a yard apart."
+
+"But do they, Mr Gemp?"
+
+"Yes, just to make people think there's nothing going on.  But there,
+ma'am, I must be off.  You mustn't keep me.  I can't stop talking here."
+
+"Well, really, Mr Gemp!" said his hearer, bridling again, and resenting
+the idea that she had detained him.
+
+"Yes, I must go indeed.  I say, though, seen any more of that chap?"
+
+"Chap?--what chap, Mr Gemp?"
+
+"Come now, you know what I mean.  That shack: that ragged, shabby
+fellow--him as come to see Mr Hallam the other day?"
+
+"Oh, the poor fellow that Mr Hallam helped?"
+
+"To be sure--him.  Been here again?" said Gemp, making a rasping noise
+with a rough finger on his beard.
+
+"No, Mr Gemp."
+
+"No!  Well, I suppose not.  I haven't seen him myself.  Mornin'; can't
+stop talking here."
+
+Mr Gemp concluded his gossips invariably in this mode, as if he
+resented being kept from business, which consisted in going to tell his
+tale again.
+
+Mrs Pinet was left to pick a few withering leaves from her geraniums, a
+floricultural act which she performed rather mechanically, for her mind
+was a good deal occupied by Gemp's disclosure.
+
+"They'd make a very nice pair, that they would," she said thoughtfully;
+"and how would it be managed, I wonder?  He couldn't marry himself, of
+course, and--oh, Mr Thickens, how you did make me jump!"
+
+"Jump!  Didn't see you jump, Mrs Pinet," said the clerk, smiling sadly,
+as if he thought Mrs Pinet's banking account was lower than it should
+be.
+
+"Well, bless the man, you know what I mean.  Stealing up so quietly,
+like a robber or thief in the night."
+
+"Oh!  Not come to steal, but to beg."
+
+"Beg, Mr Thickens?  What, a subscription for something?"
+
+"No.  I was coming by.  Mr Hallam wants the book on his shelf, `Brown's
+Investor.'"
+
+"Oh, I see.  Come in, Mr Thickens!" she exclaimed warmly.  "I'll get
+the book."
+
+"Won't come in, thank you."
+
+"Now do, Mr Thickens, and have a glass of wine and a bit of cake."
+
+The quiet, dry-looking clerk shook his head and smiled.
+
+"Plenty of gossips in the town, Mrs Pinet, without my joining the
+ranks."
+
+"Now that's unkind, Mr Thickens.  I only wanted to ask you if you
+thought it true that Mr Bayle is going to marry Miss Millicent
+Luttrell; Mr Gemp says he is."
+
+"Divide what Gemp says by five, subtract half, and the remainder may be
+correct, ma'am."
+
+"Then it isn't true?"
+
+"I don't know, ma'am."
+
+"Oh, what a tiresome, close old bank-safe of a man you are, Mr
+Thickens!  Just like your cupboard in the bank."
+
+"Where I want to be, Mrs Pinet, if you will get me the book."
+
+"Oh, well, come inside, and I'll get it for you directly.  But it isn't
+neighbourly when I wanted to ask you about fifty pounds I wish to put
+away."
+
+He followed her quickly into the parlour occupied by the manager, and
+then glanced sharply round.
+
+"Have you consulted him--Mr Hallam?" he said sharply.
+
+"No, of course not.  I have always taken your advice so far, Mr
+Thickens.  I don't talk about my bit of money to all my friends."
+
+"Quite right," he said--"quite right.  Fifty pounds, did you say?"
+
+"Yes; and I'd better bring it to Dixons', hadn't I?"  James Thickens
+began to work at his smoothly-shaven face, pinching his cheeks with his
+long white fingers and thumb, and drawing them down to his chin, as if
+he wished to pare that off to a point--an unnecessary procedure, as it
+was already very sharp.
+
+"I can't do better, can I?"
+
+The bank clerk looked sharply round the room again, his eyes lighting on
+the desk, books, and various ornaments, with which the manager had
+surrounded himself.
+
+"I don't know," he said at last.
+
+"But I don't like keeping the money in the house, Mr Thickens.  I
+always wake up about three, and fancy that thieves are breaking in."
+
+"Give it to me, then, and I'll put it safely for you somewhere."
+
+"In the bank, Mr Thickens?"
+
+"I don't know yet," he said.  "Give me the book.  Thank you.  I'll talk
+to you about the money another time;" and, placing the volume under his
+arm, he glanced once more sharply round the room, and then went off very
+thoughtful and strange of aspect--veritably looking, as Mrs Pinet said,
+as close as the safe up at Dixons' Bank.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER SIX.
+
+SIR GORDON IS TROUBLED WITH DOUBTS.
+
+First love is like furze; it is very beautiful and golden, but about and
+under that rich yellow there are thorns many and sharp.  It catches
+fire, too, quickly, and burns up with a tremendous deal of crackling,
+and the heat is great but not always lasting.
+
+Christie Bayle did not take this simile to heart, but a looker-on might
+have done so, especially such a looker-on as Robert Hallam, who visited
+at the doctor's just as of old--before the arrival of the new curate,
+whose many calls did not seem to trouble him in the least.
+
+All the same, though, he was man of the world enough to see the bent of
+Christie Bayle's thoughts, and how quickly and strongly his love had
+caught and burned.  For treating Gemp's statements as James Thickens
+suggested, and dividing them by five, the half-quotient was quite
+sufficiently heavy to show that if the curate did not marry Millicent
+Luttrell, it would be no fault of his.
+
+He was, as his critics said, very young.  Twenty-four numbered his
+years, and his educational capabilities were on a par therewith; but in
+matters worldly and of the heart twenty would better have represented
+his age.
+
+He had come down here fresh from his studious life, to find the place
+full of difficulties, till that evening when he found in Millicent a
+coadjutor, and one who seemed to take delight in helping and advising
+him.  Then the old Midland town had suddenly become to him a paradise,
+and a strange eagerness seemed to pervade him.
+
+How was he to attack such and such an evil in one of the low quarters?
+
+He would call in at the doctor's, and mention the matter to Miss
+Luttrell.
+
+It was to find her enthusiastic, but at the same time full of shrewd
+common-sense, and clever suggestions which he followed out, and the way
+became smooth.
+
+His means were good, for just before leaving college the death of an
+aunt had placed him in possession of a competency; hence he wished to be
+charitable, and Millicent advised him as to the best channels into which
+he could direct his molten gold.
+
+Then there were the Sundays when, after getting easily and well through
+the service, he ascended the pulpit to commence his carefully elaborated
+sermon, the first sentences of which were hard, faltering, and dry, till
+his eyes fell upon one sweet, grave face in the middle of the aisle,
+watching him intently, and its effect was strange.  For as their eyes
+met, Christie Bayle's spirit seemed to awaken: he ceased to read the
+sermon.  Words, sentences, and whole paragraphs were crowding in his
+brain eager to be spoken, and as they were spoken it was with a fire and
+eloquence that deeply stirred his hearers; while when, perhaps, at the
+very last, his eyes fell once more upon Millicent's calm, sweet face, he
+would see that it was slightly flushed and her eyes were suffused.
+
+He did not know it; but her influence stirred him in everything he did,
+and when he called, there was no mistaking the bright, eager look of
+pleasure, the friendly warmth, and the words that were almost
+reproachful if he had allowed three or four days to pass.
+
+Work?  No man could have worked harder or with a greater display of
+zeal.  She would be pleased, he felt, to see how he had made changes in
+several matters that were foul with neglect.  And it was no outer
+whitewashing of that which was unclean within.  Christie Bayle was very
+young, and he had suddenly grown enthusiastic; so that when he commenced
+some work he never paused until it was either well in train or was done.
+
+"You're just the man we wanted here," said Doctor Luttrell.  "Why,
+Bayle, you have wakened me up.  I tried all sorts of reformations years
+ago, but I had not your enthusiasm, and I soon wearied and jogged on in
+the old way.  I shall have to begin now, old as I am, and see what I can
+do."
+
+"But it is shameful, papa, what opposition Mr Bayle meets with in the
+town," cried Millicent warmly.
+
+"Yes, my dear, it is.  There's a great deal of opposition to everything
+that is for people's good."
+
+Millicent was willing enough to help, for there was something
+delightfully fresh and pleasant in her association with Christie Bayle.
+
+"He's working too hard, my dear," the doctor said.  "He wants change.
+He's a good fellow.  You and your mother must coax him here more, and
+get him out."  Bayle wanted no coaxing, for he came willingly enough to
+work hard with the doctor in the garden; to inspect Mrs Luttrell's
+jams, and see how she soaked the paper in brandy before she tied them
+down; to go for walks with Millicent, or, on wet days, read German with
+her, or practise some instrumental or vocal duet.
+
+How pleasantly, how happily those days glided by!  Mr Hallam from the
+bank came just as often as of old, and once or twice seemed disposed to
+speak slightingly of the curate, but he saw so grave and appealing a
+look in Millicent's eyes that he hastened, in his quiet, gentlemanly
+way, to efface the slight.
+
+Sir Gordon Bourne, as was his custom, when not at the Hall or away with
+his yacht, came frequently to the doctor's evenings, heavy with the
+smartest of sayings and the newest of stories from town.  Gravely civil
+to the bank manager, a little distant to the new curate, and then, by
+degrees, as the months rolled by, talking to him, inviting him to
+dinner, placing his purse at his disposal for deserving cases of
+poverty, and at last becoming his fast friend.
+
+"An uncommonly good fellow, doctor, uncommonly.  Very young--yes, very
+young.  Egad, Sir, I envy him sometimes, that I do."
+
+"I'm glad you like him, Sir Gordon," cried Millicent, one day.
+
+"Are you, my dear, are you?" he said, half sadly.  "Well, why shouldn't
+I?  The man's sincere.  He goes about his work without fuss or pretence.
+He does not consider it his duty to be always preaching at you and
+pulling a long face; but seems to me to be doing a wonderful deal of
+good in a quiet way.  Do you know--"
+
+He paused, and looked from the doctor to Mrs Luttrell, and then at
+Millicent, half laughingly.
+
+"Do we know what?"
+
+"Well, I'll confess.  I've played chess with him, and we've had a rubber
+at whist here, and he never touched upon sacred subjects since I've
+known him, and it has had a curious effect upon me."
+
+"A curious effect?" said Millicent wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, egad, it's a fact; he makes me feel as if I ought to go and hear
+him preach, and if you'll take me next Sunday, Miss Millicent, I will."
+
+Millicent laughingly agreed; and Sir Gordon kept his word, going to the
+doctor's on Sunday morning, and walking with the ladies to church.
+
+It is worthy of remark though, that he talked a good deal to himself as
+he went home, weary and uncomfortable from wearing tight boots, and
+bracing up.
+
+"It won't do," he said.  "I'm old enough to know better, and if I can
+see into such matters more clearly than I could twenty years ago,
+Bayle's in love with her.  Well, a good thing too, for I'm afraid Hallam
+is taken too, and--no, that would not do.  I've nothing whatever against
+the fellow; a gentleman in his manners, the very perfection of a
+manager, but somehow I should not like to see her his wife."
+
+"Why?" he said after a pause.
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"I can't answer that question," he muttered; and he was as far off from
+the answer when six months had passed.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+A TERRIBLE MISTAKE.
+
+"Going out for a drive?"
+
+"Yes, Mr Bayle; and it was of no use my speaking.  No end of things to
+see to; but the doctor would have me come with him."
+
+"I think the doctor was quite right, Mrs Luttrell."
+
+"There you are.  You see, my dear?  What did I tell you?  Plants must
+have air, mustn't they, Bayle?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"I wish you would not talk like that, my dear.  I am not a plant."
+
+"But you want air," cried the doctor, giving his whip a flick, and
+making his sturdy cob jump.
+
+"Oh! do be careful, my dear," cried Mrs Luttrell nervously as she
+snatched at the whip.
+
+"Oh, yes, I'll be careful.  I say, Bayle, I wish you would look in as
+you go by; I forgot to open the cucumber-frame, and the sun's coming out
+strong.  Just lift it about three inches."
+
+"I will," said the curate; and the doctor drove on to see a patient
+half-a-dozen miles away.
+
+"Well, you often tell me I'm a very foolish woman, my dear," said Mrs
+Luttrell, buttoning and unbuttoning the chaise-apron with uneasy
+fingers, "but I should not have done such a thing as that."
+
+"Thing as what?" cried the doctor.
+
+"As to send a gentleman on to our house where Milly's all alone.  It
+doesn't seem prudent."
+
+"What, not to ask a friend to look in and lift the cucumber-light?"
+
+"But, with Milly all alone; and I never leave her without feeling that
+something is going to happen."
+
+"Pish! fudge! stuff!" cried the doctor.  "I never did see such a woman
+as you are.  I declare you think of nothing but courting.  You ought to
+be ashamed of yourself at your time of life."
+
+"Now, you ought not to speak like that, my dear.  It's very wrong of
+you, for it's not true.  Of course I feel anxious about Millicent, as
+every prudent woman should."
+
+"Anxious!  What is there to be anxious about?  Such nonsense!  Do you
+think Bayle is a wolf in sheep's clothing?"
+
+"No, of course I don't.  Mr Bayle is a most amiable, likeable young
+man, and I feel quite surprised how I've taken to him.  I thought it
+quite shocking at first when he came, he seemed so young; but I like him
+now very much indeed."
+
+"And yet you would not trust him to go to the house when we were away.
+For shame, old lady! for shame!"
+
+"I do wish you would not talk to me like that, my dear.  I never know
+whether you are in earnest or joking."
+
+"Now, if it had been Hallam, you might have spoken.--Ah!  Betsy, what
+are you shying at?--Keep that apron fastened, will you?  What are you
+going to do?"
+
+"I was only unfastening it ready--in case I had to jump out," faltered
+Mrs Luttrell.
+
+"Jump out!  Why, mother!  There, you are growing into quite a nervous
+old woman.  You stop indoors too much."
+
+"But is there any danger, my dear?"
+
+"Danger!  Why, look for yourself.  The mare saw a wheelbarrow, and she
+was frightened.  Don't be so silly."
+
+"Well, I'll try not," said Mrs Luttrell, smoothing down the cloth fold
+over the leather apron, but looking rather flushed and excited as the
+cob trotted rapidly over the road.  "You were saying, dear, something
+about Mr Hallam."
+
+"Yes.  What of him?"
+
+"Of course we should not have sent him to the house when Milly was
+alone."
+
+"Humph!  I suppose not.  I say, old lady, you're not planning
+match-making to hook that good-looking cash-box, are you?"
+
+"What, Mr Hallam, dear?  Oh, don't talk like that."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor, making the whiplash whistle about the
+cob's ears; "you are not very fond of him, then?"
+
+"Well, no, dear, I can't say I am.  He's very gentlemanly, and handsome,
+and particular, but somehow--"
+
+"Ah!" said the doctor, with a dry chuckle, "that's it--`somehow.'
+That's the place where I stick.  No, old lady, he won't do.  I was a bit
+afraid at first; but he seems to keep just the same: makes no advances.
+He wouldn't do."
+
+"Oh, dear me, no!" cried Mrs Luttrell, with quite a shudder.
+
+"Why not?" said the doctor sharply; "don't you like him?"
+
+"Perhaps it would not be just to say so," said Mrs Luttrell nervously,
+"but I'm glad Milly does not seem to take to him."
+
+"So am I.  Curate would be far better, eh?"
+
+"And you charge me with match-making, my dear!  It is too bad."
+
+"Ah! well, perhaps it is; but don't you think--eh?"
+
+"No," said Mrs Luttrell, "I do not.  Millicent is very friendly to Mr
+Bayle, and looks upon him as a pleasant youth who has similar tastes to
+her own.  And certainly he is very nice and natural."
+
+"And yet you object to his going to see the girl when we are out!
+There, get along, Betsy; we shall never be there."
+
+The whip whistled round the cob's head and the chaise turned down a
+pleasant woody lane, just as Christie Bayle lifted the latch and entered
+the doctor's garden.
+
+It was very beautiful there in the bright morning sunshine; the velvet
+turf so green and smooth, and the beds vying one with the other in
+brightness.  There was no one in the garden, and all seemed strangely
+still at the house, with its open windows and flower-decked porch.
+
+Bayle had been requested to look in and execute a commission for the
+doctor, but all the same he felt guilty: and though he directed an eager
+glance or two at the open windows, he turned, with his heart throbbing
+heavily, to the end of the closely-clipped yew hedge, and passed round
+into the kitchen-garden, and then up one walk and down another, to the
+sunny-sheltered top, where the doctor grew his cucumbers, and broke down
+with his melons every year.
+
+There was a delicious scent from the cuttings of the lawn, which were
+piled round the frame, fermenting and giving out heat: and as the curate
+reached the glass lights, there was the interior hung with great
+dewdrops, which began to coalesce and run off as he raised the ends of
+the lights and looked in.
+
+_Puff_! quite a wave of heated air, fragrant with the young growth of
+the plants, all looking richly green and healthy, and with the golden,
+starry blossoms peeping here and there.
+
+Quite at home, Christie Bayle thrust in his arm and took out a little
+block of wood cut like an old-fashioned gun-carriage or a set of steps,
+and with this he propped up one light, so that the heat might escape and
+the temperature fall.
+
+This done he moved to the next, and thrust down the light, for he had
+seen from the other side a glistening, irregular, iridescent streak,
+which told of the track of an enemy, and this enemy had to be found.
+
+That light uttered a loud plaintive squeak as it was thrust down, a
+sound peculiar to the lights of cucumber-frames; and, leaning over the
+edge, Bayle began to peer about among the broad prickly leaves.
+
+Yes, there was the enemy's trail, and he must be found, for it would
+have been cruel to the doctor to have left such a devouring creature
+there.
+
+In and out among the trailing stems, and over the soft black earth,
+through which the delicate roots were peeping, were the dry glistening
+marks, just as if someone had dipped a brush in a paint formed of pearl
+shells dissolved in oil, and tried to imitate the veins in a block of
+marble.
+
+Yes; in and out--there it went, showing how busy the creature had been
+during the night, and the task was to find where it had gone to rest and
+sleep for the day, ready to come forth refreshed for another mischievous
+nocturnal prowl.
+
+"Now where can that fellow have hidden himself?" said the follower of
+the trail, peering about and taking off his hat and standing it on the
+next light.  "One of those great grey fellows, I'll be bound.  Ah, to be
+sure!  Come out, sir."
+
+The tale-telling trail ended where a seed-pan stood containing some
+young Brussels sprouts which had attained a goodly size, and upon these
+the enemy had supped heartily, crawling down afterwards to sleep off the
+effects beneath the pan.
+
+It was rather difficult to reach that pan, for the edge of the frame was
+waist-high; but it had to be done, and the slug raked out with a bit of
+stick.
+
+That was it!  No, it was not; the hunter could not quite reach, and had
+to wriggle himself a little more over and then try.
+
+The search was earnest and successful, the depredator dying an
+ignominious death, crushed with a piece of potsherd against the
+seed-pan, and then being buried at once beneath the soil, but to a
+looker-on the effect was grotesque.
+
+There was a looker-on here, advancing slowly along the path with a bunch
+of flowers in one hand, a pair of scissors in the other.  In fact, that
+peculiar squeak given by the frame had attracted Millicent's attention,
+at a time when she believed every one to be away.
+
+As she approached, she became conscious of the hind quarters of a man
+clothed in that dark mixture that used to be popularly known as
+"pepper-and-salt," standing up out of one of the cucumber-frames, and
+executing movements as if he were practising diving in a dry bath.
+Suddenly the legs subsided and sank down.  Next they rose again, and
+kicked about, the rest of the man still remaining hidden in the frame,
+and then at last there was a rapid retrograde motion, and Christie Bayle
+emerged, hot, dishevelled, but triumphant for a moment, then scarlet
+with confusion and annoyance as he hastily caught up his hat, clapped it
+on, but hurriedly took it off and bowed.
+
+"Miss Luttrell!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Mr Bayle!" she cried, forbearing to smile as she saw his confusion.
+"I heard the noise and wondered what it could be."
+
+"I--I met your father," he said, hastily adjusting the light; "he asked
+me to open the frames.  A tiresome slug--"
+
+"It was very kind of you," she said, holding out her hand and pressing
+his in her frank, warm grasp, and full of eagerness to set him at his
+ease.  "Papa will be so pleased that you have caught one of his
+enemies."
+
+"Thank you," he said uneasily; "it is very kind of you."--"I'm the most
+unlucky wretch under the sun, always making myself ridiculous before
+her," he added to himself.
+
+"Kind of me?  No, of you, to come and take all that trouble."--"Poor
+fellow!" she thought, "he fancies that I am going to laugh at
+him."--"I've been so busy, Mr Bayle: I've copied out the whole of that
+duet.  When are you coming in to try it over?"
+
+"Do you wish me to try it with you?" he said rather coldly.
+
+"Why, of course.  There are no end of pretty little passages solo for
+the flute.  We must have a good long practice together before we play in
+public."
+
+"You're very kind and patient with me," he said, as he gazed at the
+sweet calm face by his side.
+
+"Nonsense," she cried.  "I'm cutting a few flowers for Miss Heathery;
+she is the most grateful recipient of a present of this kind that I
+know."
+
+They were walking back towards the house as she spoke, and from time to
+time Millicent stopped to snip off some flower, or to ask her companion
+to reach one that grew on high.
+
+In a few minutes she had set him quite at his ease and they were talking
+quietly about their life, their neighbours, about his endeavours to
+improve the place; and yet all the time there seemed to him to be an
+undercurrent in his life, flowing beneath that surface talk.  The garden
+was seen through a medium that tinted everything with joy; the air he
+breathed was perfumed and intoxicating; the few bird-notes that came
+from time to time sounded more sweetly than he had ever heard them
+before; and, hardly able to realise it himself, life--existence, seemed
+one sweetly calm, and yet paradoxically troubled delight.
+
+His heart was beating fast, and there was a strange sense of oppression
+as he loosed the reins of his imagination for a moment; but the next, as
+he turned to gaze at the innocent, happy, unruffled face, so healthful
+and sweet, with the limpid grey eyes ready to meet his own so frankly,
+the calm came, and he felt that he could ask no greater joy than to live
+that peaceful life for ever at her side.
+
+It would be hard to tell how it happened.  They strolled about the
+garden till Millicent laughingly said that it would be like trespassing
+on her father's _carte blanche_ to cut more flowers, and then they went
+through the open French window into the drawing-room, where he sat near
+her, as if intoxicated by the sweetness of her voice, while she talked
+to him in unrestrained freedom of her happy, contented life, and bade
+him not to think he need be ceremonious there.
+
+Yes, it would be hard to tell how it happened.  There was one grand
+stillness without, as if the ardent sunshine had drunk up all sound but
+the dull, heavy throb of his heart, and the music of that sweet voice
+which now lulled him to a sense of delicious repose, now made every
+nerve and vein tingle with a joy he had never before known.
+
+It had been a mystery to him in his student life.  Books had been his
+world, and ambition to win a scholarly fame his care.  Now it had by
+degrees dawned upon him that there was another, a greater love than
+that, transcending it so that all that had gone before seemed pitiful
+and small.  He had met her, her voice would be part of his life from
+henceforth, and at last--how it came about he could not have told--he
+was standing at her side, holding her hands firmly in his own, and
+saying in low and eager tones that trembled with emotion:
+
+"Millicent, I love you--my love--my love!"
+
+For a few moments Millicent Luttrell stood motionless, gazing
+wonderingly at her companion as he bent down over her hands and pressed
+his lips upon them.
+
+Then, snatching them away, her soft creamy face turned to scarlet with
+indignation, but only for this to fade as she met his eyes, and read
+there the earnest look he gave her, and his act from that moment ceased
+to be the insult she thought at first.
+
+"Miss Luttrell!" he said.
+
+"Hush! don't speak to me," she cried.
+
+He took a step forward, but she waved him back, and for a few moments
+sobbed passionately, struggling hard the while to master her emotion.
+
+"Have I offended you?" he panted.  "Dear Millicent, listen to me.  What
+have I done?"
+
+"Hush!" she cried.  "It is all a terrible mistake.  What have _I_ done?"
+
+There was a pause, and the deep silence seemed to be filled now with
+strange noises.  There was a painful throbbing of the heart, a singing
+in the ears, and life was all changed as Millicent at last mastered her
+emotion, and her voice seemed to come to the listener softened and full
+of pity as if spoken by one upon some far-off shore, so calm, so grave
+and slow, so impassionately the words fell upon his ear.
+
+Such simple words, and yet to him like the death-knell of all his hope
+in life.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+CROSSED IN LOVE.
+
+"Oh, Mr Bayle, I am so sorry!"
+
+He looked piteously in the handsome pale young face before him, his
+heart sinking, and a feeling of misery, such as he had never before
+known, chilling him so that he strove in vain to speak.
+
+The words were not cruel, they were not marked with scorn or contempt.
+There was no coquetry--no hope.  They were spoken in a voice full of
+gentle sympathy, and there was tender pity in every tone, and yet they
+chilled him to the heart.
+
+"Oh, Mr Bayle, I am so sorry!"
+
+It needed no look to endorse those words, and yet it was there, beaming
+upon him from those sweet, frank eyes that had filled again with tears
+which she did not passionately dash aside, but which brimmed and softly
+dropped upon the hands she clasped across her breast.
+
+He saw plainly enough that it had all been a dream, his dream of love
+and joy; that he had been too young to read a woman's heart aright, and
+that he had taken her little frank kindnesses as responses to his love;
+and he needed no explanations, for the tones in which she uttered those
+words crushed him, till as he stood before her in those painful moments,
+he realised that the deathblow to all his hopes had come.
+
+He sank back in his chair as she stood before him, gazing up at her in
+so boyish and piteous a manner that she spoke again.
+
+"Indeed, indeed, Mr Bayle, I thought our intimacy so pleasant, I was so
+happy with you."
+
+"Then I may hope," he cried passionately.  "Millicent, dear Millicent,
+all my life has been spent in study; I have read so little, I never
+thought of love till I saw you, but it has grown upon me till I can
+think only of you--your words, the tones of your voice, your face, all
+are with me always, with me now.  Millicent, dear Millicent, it is a
+man's first true love, and you could give me hope."
+
+"Oh, hush! hush!" she said gently, as she held out her hand to him,
+which he seized and covered with his kisses, till she withdrew it
+firmly, and shook her head.  "I am more pained than I can say," she said
+softly.  "I tell you I never thought of such a thing as this."
+
+"But you will," he said, "Millicent, my love!"
+
+"Mr Bayle," she said, with some attempt at firmness, "if I have ever by
+my thoughtlessness made you think I cared for you, otherwise than as a
+very great friend, forgive me."
+
+"A friend!" he cried bitterly.
+
+"Yes, as a friend.  Is friendship so slight a thing that you speak of it
+like that?"
+
+"Yes," he cried; "at a time like this, when I ask for bread and you give
+me a stone."
+
+"Oh, hush!" she said again softly; and there was a sad smile through her
+tears.  "I should be cruel if I did not speak to you plainly and firmly.
+Mr Bayle, what you ask is impossible."
+
+"You despise me," he cried passionately, "because I am so boyish--so
+young."
+
+"No," she said gently, as she laid her hand upon his shoulder.  "Let me
+speak to you as an elder sister might."
+
+"A sister!" he cried angrily.
+
+"Yes, as a sister," replied Millicent gently.  "Christie Bayle, it was
+those very things in you that attracted me first.  I never had a
+brother; but you, with your frank and free-hearted youthfulness, your
+genuine freshness of nature, seemed so brotherly, that my life for the
+past few months has been brighter than ever.  Our reading, our painting,
+our music--Oh, why did you dash all these happy times away?"
+
+"Because I am not a boy," he cried angrily; "because I am a man--a man
+who loves you.  Millicent, will you not give me hope?"
+
+There was a pause, during which she stood gazing right over his head as
+he still sat there with outstretched hands, which he at last dropped
+with a gesture of despair.
+
+"No," she said at last; "I cannot give you hope.  It is impossible."
+
+"Then you love some one else," he cried with boyish anger.  "Oh, it is
+cruel.  You led me on to love you, and now, in your coquettish triumph,
+you throw me aside for some other plaything of the hour."
+
+Millicent's brow contracted, and a half-angry look came into her eyes.
+
+"This talk to me of brotherly feeling and of being a sister, is it to
+mock me?  It is as I thought," he cried passionately, "as I have heard,
+with you handsome women; you who delight in giving pain, in trifling
+with a weak, foolish fellow's heart, so that you may bring him to your
+feet."
+
+"Christie--"
+
+"No," he raged, as he started to his feet, "don't speak to me like that.
+I will not be led on again.  Enjoy your triumph, but let it be made
+bitter by the knowledge that you have wrecked my life."
+
+"Oh, hush! hush! hush!" she said softly.  "You are not yourself,
+Christie Bayle, or you would not speak to me like this.  You know that
+you are charging me with that which is not true.  How can you be so
+cruel?"
+
+"Cruel?  It is you," he cried passionately.  "But, there, it is all
+over.  I shall leave here at once.  I wish I had never seen the town."
+
+"Christie," she said gently, "listen to me.  Be yourself and go home,
+and think over all this.  I cannot give you what you ask.  Come, be wise
+and manly over this disappointment.  Go away for a week, and then come
+back to me, and let our pleasant old friendship be resumed.  You give me
+pain, indeed you do, by this outburst.  It is so unlike you."
+
+"Unlike me?  Yes, you have nearly driven me mad."
+
+"No, no.  No, no," she said tenderly.  "Be calm.  Indeed and indeed, I
+have felt as warm and affectionate to you of late as a sister could feel
+for a brother.  I have felt so pleased to see how you were winning your
+way here amongst the people; and when I have heard a light or
+contemptuous utterance about you, it has made me angry and ready to
+speak in your defence."
+
+"Yes, I know," he cried; "and it is this that taught me that you must
+care for me--must love me."
+
+"Cannot a woman esteem and be attached to a youth without loving him?"
+
+"Youth!  There!  You treat me as if I were a boy," he cried angrily.
+"Can I help seeming so young?"
+
+"No," she said, taking his hand, "But you are in heart and ways very,
+very young, Christie Bayle.  Am I to tell you again that it was this
+brought about our intimacy, for I found you so fresh in your young
+manliness, so different to the gentlemen I have been accustomed to?
+Come: forget all this.  Let us be friends."
+
+"Friends?  No, it is impossible," he cried bitterly.  "I know I am
+boyish and weak, and that is why you hold me in such contempt."
+
+"Contempt?  Oh, no!"
+
+"But, some day," he pleaded, "I'll wait--any time--"
+
+"No, no, no," she said flushing, "it is impossible."
+
+"Then," he raged as he started up, "I am right.  You love some one else.
+Who is it?  I will know."
+
+"Mr Bayle!"
+
+There was a calm queenly dignity in her look and words that checked his
+rage; and she saw it as he sank into the nearest chair, his face bent
+down upon his hands, and his shoulders heaving with the emotion that
+escaped now and then in a hoarse sob.
+
+"Poor boy!" she said to herself as the indignation he had roused gave
+way to pity.
+
+"Christie Bayle," she said aloud, as she approached him once more, and
+laid her hand upon his shoulder.
+
+"Don't touch me," he cried hoarsely as he sprang up; and she started
+back, half frightened at his wild, haggard face.  "_I_ might have
+known," he panted.  "Heaven forgive you!  Good-bye--good-bye for ever!"
+Before Millicent could speak he had reached the door, and the next
+minute she heard his hurried steps as he went down the street.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER NINE.
+
+THE SCALES FALL FROM SIR GORDON'S EYES.
+
+Millicent stood listening till the steps had died away, and then sat
+down at the writing-table.
+
+"Poor boy!" she said softly, as she passed her hand over her eyes, "I am
+so sorry."
+
+She laid down the pen, and ran over her conduct--all that she had said
+and done since her first meeting with the curate; but ended by shaking
+her head, and declaring to herself that she could find nothing in her
+behaviour to call for blame.
+
+"No," she said, rising from the table, after writing a few lines which
+she tore up, "I must not write to him; the wound must be left to time."
+
+A double knock announced a visitor, and directly after Thisbe King, the
+maid, ushered in Sir Gordon, who, in addition to his customary dress,
+wore--what was very unusual for him--a flower in his button-hole, which,
+with a great show of ceremony, he detached, and presented to Millicent
+before taking his seat.
+
+As a rule he was full of chatty conversation, but, to Millicent's
+surprise, he remained perfectly silent, gazing straight before him
+through the window.
+
+"Is anything the matter, Sir Gordon?" said Millicent at last.  "Papa is
+out, but he will not be long."  These words roused him, and he smiled at
+her gravely.
+
+"No, my dear Miss Luttrell," he said, "nothing is wrong; but at my time
+of life, when a man has anything particular to say, he weighs it well--
+he brings a good deal of thought to bear.  I was trying to do this now."
+
+"But mamma is out too," said Millicent.
+
+"Yes, I know," he replied, "and therefore I came on to speak to you."
+
+"Sir Gordon!"
+
+"My dear Miss Luttrell--there, I have known you so long that I may call
+you my dear child--I think you believe in me?"
+
+"Believe in you, Sir Gordon?"
+
+"Yes, that I have the instincts, I hope, of a gentleman; that I am your
+father's very good friend; and that I reverence his child."
+
+"Oh yes, Sir Gordon," said Millicent, placing her hand in his, as he
+extended it towards her.
+
+"That is well, then," he said; and there was another pause, during which
+he gazed thoughtfully at the hand he held for a few moments, and then
+raised it to his lips and allowed it afterwards to glide away.
+
+Millicent flushed slightly, for, in spite of herself, the thought of her
+visitor's object began to dawn upon her, though she refused to believe
+it at first.
+
+"Let me see," he said at last, "time slides away so fast.  You must be
+three-and-twenty now."
+
+"I thought a lady's age was a secret, Sir Gordon," said Millicent
+smiling.
+
+"To weak, vain women, yes, my child; but your mind is too clear and
+candid for such subterfuges as that.  Twenty-three!  Compared with that,
+I am quite an old man."
+
+Millicent's colour began to deepen, but she made a brave effort to be
+calm, mastered her emotion, and sat listening to the strange wooing that
+had commenced.
+
+"I am going to speak very plainly," her visitor said, gazing wistfully
+in her eyes, "and to tell you, Millicent, that for the past five years I
+have been your humble suitor."
+
+"Sir Gordon!"
+
+"Hush! hush!  On the strength of our old friendship hear me out, my
+child.  I will not say a word that shall wilfully give you pain; I only
+ask for a hearing."
+
+Millicent sank back in her chair, clasped her hands, and let them rest
+in her lap, for she was too agitated to speak.  The events of an hour or
+two before had unhinged her.
+
+"For five years I have been nursing this idea in my breast," he
+continued, "one day determining to speak, and then telling myself that I
+was weak and foolish, that the thing was impossible; and then, as you
+know, I have gone away for months together in my yacht.  I will tell you
+what I have said to myself: `You are getting well on in life; she is
+young and beautiful.  The match would not be right.  Some day she will
+form an attachment for some man suited to her.  Take your pleasure in
+seeing the woman you love happier than you could ever make her.'"
+
+This was a revelation to Millicent, whose lips parted, and whose
+troubled eyes were fixed upon the speaker.
+
+"The years went on, my child," continued Sir Gordon, "and I kept
+fancying that the man had come, and that the test of my love for you was
+to be tried.  I was willing to suffer--for your sake--to see you happy;
+and though I was ready to offer you wealth, title, and the tender
+affection of an elderly man, I put it aside, striving to do my duty."
+
+"Sir Gordon, I never knew of all this."
+
+"Knew!" he said, with a smile, "no: I never let you know.  Well, my
+child, not to distress you too much, I have waited; and, as you knew, I
+have seen your admirers flitting about you, one by one, all these years;
+and I confess it, with a sense of delight I dare not dwell upon, I have
+found that not one of these butterflies has succeeded in winning our
+little flower.  She has always been heart-whole and--There, I dare not
+say all I would.  At last, with a pang that I felt that I must suffer, I
+saw, as I believed, that the right man had come, in the person of our
+friend, Christie Bayle.  It has been agony to me, though I have hidden
+it beneath a calm face, I hope, and I have fought on as I saw your
+intimacy increase.  For, I said to myself, it is right.  He is
+well-to-do; he is young and handsome; he is true and manly; he is all
+that her lover should be; and, with a sigh, I have sat down telling
+myself that I was content, and, to prove myself, I have made him my
+friend.  Millicent Luttrell, he is a true-hearted, noble fellow, and he
+loves you."
+
+Millicent half rose, but sank back in her chair, and her face grew calm
+once more.
+
+"I am no spy upon your actions or upon those of Christie Bayle, my
+child; but I know that he has been to you this morning; that he has
+asked you to be his wife, and that you have refused him."
+
+"Has Mr Bayle been so wanting in delicacy," said Millicent, with a
+flush of anger, "that he has told you this?"
+
+"No, no.  Pray do not think thus of him.  He is too noble--too manly a
+fellow to be guilty of such a weakness.  There are things, though, which
+a man cannot conceal from a jealous lover's eyes, and this was one."
+
+"Jealous--lover!" faltered Millicent.
+
+"Yes," he said; "old as I am, my child, I must declare myself as your
+lover.  This last rejection has given me hopes that may be wild--hopes
+which prompted me to speak as I do now."
+
+"Sir Gordon!" cried Millicent, rising from her seat; but he followed her
+example and took her hand.
+
+"You will listen to me, my child, patiently," he said in low earnest
+tones; "I must speak now.  I know the difference in our ages; no one
+better; but if the devotion of my life, the constant effort to make you
+happy can bring the reward I ask, you shall not repent it.  I know that
+some women would be tempted by the title and by my wealth, but I will
+not even think it of you.  I know, too, that some would, in their
+coquetry, rejoice in bringing such a one as I to their feet, and then
+laugh at him for his pains.  I fear nothing of the kind from you,
+Millicent, for I know your sweet, candid nature.  But tell me first, do
+you love Christie Bayle?"
+
+"As a sister might love a younger brother, who seemed to need her
+guiding hand," said Millicent calmly.  "Ah!"
+
+It was a long sigh full of relief; and then taking her hand once more,
+Sir Gordon said softly:
+
+"Millicent, my child, will you be my wife?"
+
+The look of pain and sorrow in her eyes gave him his answer before her
+lips parted to speak, and he dropped the hand and stood there with the
+carefully-got-up look of youthfulness or early manhood seeming to fade
+from him.  In a few minutes he appeared to have aged twenty years; his
+brow grew full of lines, his eyes seemed sunken, and there was a
+hollowness of cheek that had been absent before.
+
+He stretched out his hand to the table, and slowly sat down, bending
+forward till his arms rested upon his knees and his hands hung down
+nerveless between.
+
+"You need not speak, child," he said sadly.  "It has all been one of my
+mistakes.  I see!  I see!"
+
+"Sir Gordon, indeed, indeed I do feel honoured!"
+
+"No, no! hush, hush!" he said gently.  "It is only natural.  It was very
+weak and foolish of me to ask you; but when this love blinds a man, he
+says and does foolish things that he repents when his eyes are open.
+Mine are open now--yes," he said, with a sad smile, "wide open; I can
+see it all.  But," he added quickly as he rose, "you are not angry with
+me, my dear?"
+
+"Angry?  Sir Gordon!"
+
+"No: you are not," he said, taking her hand and patting it softly.  "Is
+it not strange that I could see you so clearly and well, and yet be so
+blind to myself?  Ah, well, it is over now.  I suppose no man is
+perfect, but in my conceit I did not think I could have been so weak.
+If I had not seen Bayle this morning and realised what had taken place,
+I should not have let my vanity get the better of me as I did."
+
+"All this is very, very painful to me, Sir Gordon."
+
+"Yes, yes, of course," he said quickly.  "Come, then, this is our little
+secret, my child.  You will keep it--the secret of my mistake?  I do
+love you very much, but you have taught me what it is.  I am getting old
+and not so keen of wits as I was once upon a time.  I thought it was
+man's love for woman; but you are right, my dear, it is the love that a
+tender father might bear his child."
+
+He took her unresistingly in his arms, and kissed her forehead
+reverently before turning away, to walk to the window and stand gazing
+out blindly, till a firm step with loudly creaking boots was heard
+approaching, when Sir Gordon slowly drew away back into the room.
+
+Then the gate clanged, the bell rang, and a change came over Sir Gordon
+as Millicent ran to the drawing-room door.
+
+"Not at home, Thisbe, to any one," she said hastily.  "I am particularly
+engaged."
+
+She closed the door quietly, and came back into the room to stand there,
+now flushed, now pale.
+
+Sir Gordon took her hand softly, and raised it to his lips.
+
+"Thank you, my child," he said tenderly.  "It was very kind and
+thoughtful of you.  I could not bear for any one else to see me in my
+weakness."
+
+He was smiling sadly in her face, when he noticed her agitation, and at
+that moment the deep rich tones of Hallam's voice were heard speaking to
+Thisbe.
+
+The words were inaudible, but there was no mistaking the tones, and at
+that moment it was as if the last scale of Sir Gordon's love blindness
+had fallen away, and he let fall Millicent's hand with a half-frightened
+look.
+
+"Millicent, my child!" he cried in a sharp whisper.  "No, no!  Tell me
+it isn't that!"
+
+She raised her eyes to his, looking pale, and shrinking from him as if
+guilty of some sin, and he flushed with anger as he caught her by the
+wrist.
+
+"I give up--I have given up--every hope," he said, hoarsely, "but I
+cannot kill my love, even if it be an old man's, and your happiness
+would be mine.  Tell me, then--I have a right to know--tell me,
+Millicent, my child, it is not that?"
+
+Millicent's shrinking aspect passed away, and a warm flush flooded her
+cheeks as she drew herself up proudly and looked him bravely in the
+eyes.
+
+"It is true, then?" he said huskily.
+
+Millicent did not answer with her lips; but there was a proud assent in
+her clear eyes as she met her questioner's unflinchingly, while the
+deep-toned murmur ceased, the firm step was heard upon the gravel, and
+the door closed.
+
+"Then it is so?" he said in a voice that was almost inaudible.  "Hallam!
+Hallam!  How true that they say love is blind!  Oh, my child, my
+child!"
+
+His last words were spoken beneath his breath, and he stood there, old
+and crushed by the fair woman in the full pride of her youth and beauty,
+both listening to the retiring step as Hallam went down the road.
+
+No words could have told so plainly as her eyes the secret of Millicent
+Luttrell's heart.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TEN.
+
+THISBE GIVES HER EXPERIENCE.
+
+Thisbe King was huffy; and when Thisbe King was huffy, she was hard.
+
+When Thisbe was huffy, and in consequence hard, it was because, as she
+expressed it, "Things is awkward;" and when things were like that,
+Thisbe went and made the beds.
+
+Of course the beds did not always want making; but more than once after
+an encounter with Mrs Luttrell upon some domestic question, where it
+was all mild reproof on one side, acerbity on the other, Thisbe had been
+known to go up to the best bedroom, drag a couple of chairs forward, and
+relieve her mind by pulling the bed to pieces, snatching quilt and
+blankets and sheets off over the chairs, and engaging in a furious fight
+with pillows, bolster, and feather bed, hitting, punching, and turning,
+till she was hot; and then, having thoroughly conquered the soft,
+inanimate objects and her own temper at the same time, the bed was
+smoothly re-made, and Thisbe sighed.
+
+"I shall have to part with Thisbe," Mrs Luttrell often used to say to
+husband and daughter; but matters went no farther: perhaps she knew in
+her heart that Thisbe would not go.
+
+The beds had all been made, and there had been no encounter with Mrs
+Luttrell about any domestic matter relating to spreading a cloth in the
+drawing-room before the grate was blackleaded, or using up one loaf in
+the kitchen before a second was cut.  In fact, Thisbe had been all
+smiles that morning, and had uttered a few croaks in the kitchen, which
+she did occasionally under the impression that she was singing; but all
+at once she had rushed upstairs like the wind in winter when the front
+door was opened, and to carry out the simile, she had dashed back a
+bedroom door, and closed it with a bang.
+
+This done, she had made a bed furiously--so furiously that the feathers
+flew from a weak corner, and had to be picked up and tucked in again.
+After this, red-faced and somewhat refreshed, Thisbe pulled a housewife
+out of a tremendous pocket like a saddle-bag, threaded a needle, and
+sewed up the failing spot.
+
+"It's dreadful, that's what it is!" she muttered at last, "and I'm going
+to speak my mind."
+
+She did not speak her mind then, but went down to her work, and worked
+with her ears twitching like those of some animal on the _qui vive_ for
+danger; and when Thisbe twitched her ears there was a corresponding
+action in the muscles about the corners of her mouth, which added to the
+animal look, for it suggested that she might be disposed to bite.
+
+Some little time afterwards she walked into the drawing-room, looking at
+its occupant in a soured way.
+
+"Letter for you, Miss Milly," she said.
+
+"A note for me, Thisbe?"  And Millicent took the missive which Thisbe
+held with her apron to keep it clean.
+
+"Mr Bayle give it me hissen."
+
+Millicent's face grew troubled, and Thisbe frowned, and left the room
+shaking her head.
+
+The note was brief, and the tears stood in Millicent's eyes as she read
+it twice.
+
+"_Pity me.  Forgive me.  I was mad_."
+
+"Poor boy!" she said softly as she refolded it and placed it in her
+desk, to stand there, thoughtful and with her brow wrinkled.
+
+She was in the bay-window, and after standing there a few minutes, her
+face changed; the troubled look passed away as a steady, regular step
+was heard on the gravel path beyond the hedge.  There was the faint
+creaking noise, too, at every step of the hard tight boots, and as their
+wearer passed, Millicent looked up and returned the salute: for a glossy
+hat was raised, and he who bowed passed on, leaving her with her colour
+slightly heightened and an eager look in her eyes.
+
+"Any answer, miss?"
+
+Millicent turned quickly, to see that Thisbe had returned.
+
+"Answer?"
+
+"Yes, miss.  The note."
+
+"Is Mr Bayle waiting?"
+
+"No, miss; but I thought you might want to send him one, and I'm going
+out and could leave it on the way."
+
+"No, Thisbe, there is no answer."
+
+"Are you sure, miss?"
+
+"Sure, Thisbe?  Of course."
+
+Thisbe stood pulling the hem of her apron and making it snap.
+
+"Oh!  I would send him a line, miss.  I like Mr Bayle.  For such a
+young man, the way he can preach is wonderful.  But, Miss Milly," she
+cried with a sudden, passionate outburst, "please, don't--don't do
+that!"
+
+"What do you mean, Thisbe?"
+
+"I can't abear it, miss.  It frightens and worries me."
+
+"Thisbe!"
+
+"I can't help it, miss.  I'm a woman too, and seven years older than you
+are.  Don't, please don't, take any notice of me.  There, don't look
+cross at me, miss.  I must speak when I see things going wrong."
+
+"What do you mean?" cried Millicent, crimsoning.  "I mean I used to lead
+you about when you was a little thing and keep you out o' the puddles
+when the road was clatty, and though you never take hold o' my hand now,
+I must speak when you're going wrong."
+
+"Thisbe, this is a liberty!"
+
+"I can't help it, Miss Milly; I see him coming by in his creaking boots,
+and taking off his hat, and walking by here, when he has no business,
+and people talking about it all over the town."
+
+"And in this house.  Thisbe, you are forgetting your place."
+
+"Oh, no, I'm not, miss.  I'm thinking about you and Mr Hallam, miss.  I
+know."
+
+"Thisbe, mamma and I have treated you more as a friend than a servant;
+but--"
+
+"That's it, miss; and I shouldn't be a friend if I was to stand by and
+see you walk raight into trouble without a word."
+
+"Thisbe!"
+
+"I don't care, Miss Milly, I will speak.  Don't have nowt to do wi' him;
+he's too handsome; never you have nowt to do wi' a handsome man."
+
+Millicent's ordinarily placid face assumed a look foreign to it--a look
+of anger and firmness combined; but she compressed her lips, as if to
+keep back words she would rather not utter, and then smiled once more.
+
+"Ah, you may laugh, Miss Milly; but it's nothing to laugh at.  And
+there's Mr Bayle, too.  You're having letters from he."
+
+Millicent's face changed again; but she mastered her annoyance, and,
+laying her hand upon Thisbe's shoulder, said with a smile:
+
+"I don't want to be angry with you, Thisbe, but you have grown into a
+terribly prejudiced woman."
+
+"Enough to make me, seeing what I do, Miss Milly."
+
+"Come, come, you must not talk like this."
+
+"Ah, now you're beginning to coax again, as you always did when you
+wanted your own way; but it's of no use, my dear, I don't like him, and
+I never shall.  I'd rather you'd marry old Sir Gordon; he is nice,
+though he do dye his hair.  I don't like him and there's an end of it."
+
+"Nonsense, Thisbe!"
+
+"No, it isn't nonsense.  I don't like him, and I never shall."
+
+"But why?  Have you any good reason?"
+
+"Yes," said Thisbe with a snort.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I told you before.  He's so horrid handsome."
+
+"Why, you dear, prejudiced, silly old thing!" cried Millicent, whose
+eyes were sparkling, and cheeks flushed.
+
+"I don't care if I am.  I don't like handsome men: they're good for
+nowt."
+
+"Why, Thisbe!"
+
+"I don't care, they arn't; my soldier fellow was that handsome it made
+you feel wicked, you were so puffed out with pride."
+
+"And so you were in love once, Thisbe?"
+
+"Why, of course I was.  Think I'm made o' stone, miss?  Enough to make
+any poor girl be in love when a handsome fellow like that, with
+moustache-i-ohs, and shiny eyes, and larnseer uniform making him look
+like a blue robin redbreast, came and talked as he did to a silly young
+goose such as I was then.  I couldn't help it.  Why, the way his clothes
+fitted him was enough to win any girl's heart--him with such a beautiful
+figure too!  He looked as if he couldn't be got out of 'em wi'out
+unpicking."
+
+"Think of our Thisbe falling in love with a soldier!" cried Millicent,
+laughing, for there was a wild feeling of joy in her heart that was
+intoxicating, and made her eyes flash with excitement.
+
+"Ah, it's very funny, isn't it?" said Thisbe, with a vicious shake of
+her apron.  "But it's true.  Handsome as handsome he was, and talked so
+good that he set me thinking always about how nice I must be.  Stuffed
+me out wi' pride, and what did he do then?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, Thisbe."
+
+"Borrered three pun seven and sixpence of my savings, and took my watch,
+as I bought at Horncastle fair, to be reggilated, and next time I see my
+gentleman he was walking out wi' Dixon's cook.  Handsome is as handsome
+does, Miss Milly, so you take warning by me."
+
+"There, I will not be cross with you, Thisbe," said Millicent, smiling.
+"I know you mean well."
+
+"And you'll send an answer to Mr Bayle, miss?"
+
+"There is no answer required, Thisbe," said Millicent gravely.
+
+"And Mr Hallam, miss?"
+
+"Thisbe," said Millicent gravely, "I want you always to be our old
+faithful friend as well as servant, but--"
+
+She held up a warning finger, and was silent.  Thisbe's lips parted to
+say a few angry words; but she flounced round, and made the door speak
+for her in a sharp bang, after which she rushed upstairs with the intent
+of having a furious encounter with a bed; but she changed her mind, and
+on reaching her own room, sat down, put her apron to her eyes, and had
+what she called "a good cry."
+
+"Poor Miss Milly!" she sobbed at last; "she's just about as blind as I
+was, and she'll only find it out when it's too late."
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+ANOTHER EVENING AT THE DOCTOR'S.
+
+"But--but I don't like it, my dear," said Mrs Luttrell, wiping her
+eyes, and looking up at the doctor, as he stood rubbing his hands
+softly, to get rid of the harshness produced by freshly-dug earth used
+for potting.
+
+"Neither do I," said the doctor calmly.
+
+"But why should she choose him of all men?" sighed Mrs Luttrell.  "I
+never thought Millicent the girl to be taken by a man only for his
+handsome face.  I was not when I was young!"
+
+"Which is saying that I was precious ugly, eh?"
+
+"Indeed you were the handsomest man in Castor!" cried Mrs Luttrell
+proudly; "but you were the cleverest too, and--dear, dear!--what a
+little while ago it seems!"
+
+"Gently, gently, old lady!" said the doctor, tenderly kissing the
+wrinkled forehead that was raised towards him.  "Well, heaven's blessing
+be upon her, my dear, and may her love be as evergreen as ours."
+
+Mrs Luttrell rose and laid her head upon his shoulder, and stood there,
+with a happy, peaceful look upon her pleasant face, although it was
+still wet with tears.
+
+"That's what I'm afraid of," she sighed; "and it would be so sad."
+
+"Ah, wife!" said the doctor, walking slowly up and down the room, with
+his arm about Mrs Luttrell's waist, "it's one of Nature's mysteries.
+We can't rule these things.  Look at Milly.  Some girls begin
+love-making at seventeen, ah, and before! and here she went calmly on to
+four-and-twenty untouched, and finding her pleasure in her books and
+music, and home-life."
+
+"As good and affectionate a girl as ever breathed!" cried Mrs Luttrell.
+
+"Yes, my dear; and then comes the man, and he has but to hold up his
+finger and say `Come,' and it is done."
+
+"But she might have had Sir Gordon, and he is rich, and then she would
+have been Lady Bourne!"
+
+"He was too old, my dear, too old.  She looked upon him like a child
+would look up to her father."
+
+"Well, then, Mr Bayle, the best of men, I'm sure; and he is well off
+too."
+
+"Too young, old lady, too young.  I've watched them together hundreds of
+times.  Milly always petted and patronised him, and treated him as if he
+were a younger brother, of whom she was very fond."
+
+"Heigho!  Oh dear me!" sighed Mrs Luttrell.  "But I don't like him--
+this Mr Hallam.  I never thought when Millicent was a baby that she
+would ever enter into an engagement like this.  Can't we break it off?"
+
+The doctor shook his head.  "I don't like it, mother.  Hallam is the
+last man I should have chosen for her; but we must make the best of it.
+He has won her; and she is not a child, but a calm, thoughtful woman."
+
+"Yes, that's the worst of it," sighed Mrs Luttrell; "she is so
+thoughtful and calm and dignified, that I never can look upon her now as
+my little girl.  I always seem to be talking to a superior woman, whose
+judgment I must respect.  But this is very sad!"
+
+"There, there! we must not treat it like that, old lady.  Perhaps we
+have grown to be old and prejudiced.  I own I have."
+
+"Oh, no, no, my dear!"
+
+"Yes, but I have.  As soon as this seemed to be a certainty I began to
+try and find a hole in the fellow's coat."
+
+"In Mr Hallam's coat, love?  Oh, you wouldn't find that."
+
+"No," said the doctor dryly, as he smiled down in the gentle old face,
+"not one.  There, there! you must let it go!  Now then, old lady, you
+must smile and look happy, here's Milly coming down."
+
+Mrs Luttrell shook her head, and her wistful look seemed to say that
+she would never feel happy again; but as Millicent entered, in plain
+white satin, cut in the high-waisted, tight fashion of the period, and
+with a necklet of pearls for her only ornament, a look of pride and
+pleasure came into the mother's face, and she darted a glance at her
+husband, which he caught and interpreted, "I will think only of her."
+
+"Oh, Milly!" she cried, "that necklace! what lovely pearls!"
+
+"Robert's present, dear.  I was to wear them to-night.  Are they not
+lovely?"
+
+"Almost as lovely as their setting," said the doctor to himself, as he
+kissed his child tenderly.  "Why, Milly," he said aloud, "you look as
+happy as a bird!"
+
+She laid her cheek upon his breast, and remained silent for a few
+moments, with half-closed eyes.  Then, raising her head, she kissed him
+lovingly.
+
+"I am, father dear," she said in a low voice, full of the calm and
+peaceful joy that filled her breast.  "I am, father, I am, mother--so
+happy!"  She paused, and then, laughing gently, added: "So happy I feel
+ready to cry."
+
+It was to be a quiet evening, to which a few friends were invited; but
+it was understood as being an open acknowledgment of Millicent's
+engagement to Robert Hallam, and in this spirit the visitors came.
+
+Miss Heathery generally arrived last at the social gatherings.  It gave
+her entry more importance, and, at her time of life, she could not
+afford to dispense with adventitious aids.  But there was the scent of
+matrimony in this little party, and she was dressed an hour too soon,
+and arrived first in the well-lit drawing-room.
+
+"My darling!" she whispered, as she kissed Millicent.
+
+That was all; but her voice and look were full of pity for the victim
+chosen for the next sacrifice, and she turned away towards the piano to
+get out her handkerchief, and drop a parting tear.
+
+It was a big tear, one of so real and emotional a character that it
+brimmed over, fell on her cheekbone, and hopped into her reticule just
+as she was drawing open the top, and was lost in the depths within.
+
+There was as much sorrow for herself as emotion on Millicent Luttrell's
+behalf.  Had not Millicent robbed her of the chance of an offer?  Mr
+Hallam might never have proposed: but still he might.
+
+Suddenly her heart throbbed, for the next guest arrived also unusually
+early, and as Thisbe held open the door for him to pass, hope told again
+her flattering tale to the tune that Sir Gordon might have known that
+she, Miss Heathery, was coming early, and had followed.
+
+The hopeful feeling did not die at once, but it received a shock as Sir
+Gordon entered, looking very bright and young, to shake hands warmly
+with the doctor and Mrs Luttrell, to bow to Miss Heathery, and then
+turn to Millicent, who, in spite of her natural firmness, was a good
+deal agitated.  She had nerved herself for these meetings, and striven
+to keep down their importance; but now the night had arrived, she was
+fain to confess that hers was a difficult task, to meet two rejected
+lovers, and bear herself easily before them with the husband of her
+choice.  First there was Sir Gordon, from whom she was prepared for
+reproachful looks, and perhaps others marked by disappointment; while
+from Christie Bayle--ah, how would he behave towards her?  He was so
+young that she trembled lest he should make himself ridiculous in his
+loving despair.
+
+And now here was the first shock to be sustained, so, forcing herself to
+be calm, she advanced with extended hand.
+
+"Oh," whispered Sir Gordon, in tones that only reached Millicent's ear,
+"too bad--too bad.  Supplanted twice.  But there, I accept my fate."  As
+he spoke he drew Millicent towards him, and kissed her forehead with
+tender reverence.  "An old man's kiss, my dear, to the child of his very
+dear friends.  God bless you!  May you be very happy with the man of
+your choice.  May I?"  He dropped her hand to draw from his breast a
+string of large single pearls, so regular and perfect a match that they
+must have cost a goodly sum.  For answer Millicent turned pale as she
+bent towards him and he clasped the string about her neck.  "There," he
+said smiling, "I should have made a different choice if I had known."
+
+Millicent would have spoken, but her voice failed, and to add to her
+agony at that moment, Bayle came in, looking, as she saw at a glance,
+pale and somehow changed.
+
+"He will do or say something absurd," she said to herself as she bit her
+lip, and strove for composure.  Then the blood seemed to rush to her
+heart and a pang shot through her as she realised more than if he had
+said a thousand things, how deeply her refusal had influenced his life.
+
+Only four months since that day, when she had told him that they could
+be true friends, she speaking as an elder sister to one she looked upon
+as a boy.  And now she felt ready to ask herself, who was this calm,
+grave man, who took her hand without hesitation, so perfectly at ease in
+his gentlemanly courtesy, and who had so thoroughly fallen into the
+place she had bidden him take?
+
+"I see," he said with a smile, "I shall not be out of order, my dear
+Miss Luttrell.  Will you accept this little offering too?"
+
+He was holding a brilliant diamond ring in his hand.
+
+For answer Millicent drew her long glove from her soft, white hand, and
+he took it gravely, and, in the presence of all, slipped on the ring,
+bending over it afterwards to kiss that hand, with the chivalrous
+delicacy of some courtier of a bygone school, then, raising his eyes to
+hers, he said softly, "Millicent Luttrell, our friendship must never
+fail."
+
+Before she could say a word of thanks he had turned to speak to Mrs
+Luttrell, giving way to Sir Gordon Bourne, who began chatting to her
+pleasantly, while her eyes followed Christie Bayle's easy gestures, as
+she wondered the while at the change in his manner, unable to realise
+the agony of soul that he had suffered in this his first great battle
+with self before he had obtained the mastery, wounded and changed,
+stepping at once, as it were, from boyhood to the position of a
+thoughtful man.
+
+Hallam soon arrived, smiling and agreeable, and it was piteous to see
+Mrs Luttrell's efforts to be very warm and friendly to him.
+
+Millicent noticed it, and also that her father was quiet towards his
+son-in-law elect.  She watched, too, the meeting between Hallam and
+Bayle, the former being as nearly offensive as his gentlemanly manner
+would allow; the latter warm, grave, and friendly.
+
+"Has Bayle been unwell?" said Hallam the first time he was alone with
+Millicent.
+
+"_I_ have not heard," she replied, glancing at the curate, and wondering
+more and more, as the evening went on, at the change.
+
+Among others, the Trampleasures arrived, and to Miss Heathery's grief,
+Mrs Trampleasure pretty well monopolised Bayle's remarks, or else made
+him listen to her own.
+
+"And what do you think of this engagement, Mr Bayle?" she said, in so
+audible a voice that he was afraid it would be overheard.
+
+"They make a very handsome couple," he replied.
+
+"Ah, yes, handsome enough, I dare say; but good looks will not fill
+mouths.  I wonder L. has allowed it.  Mr Hallam is all very well, but
+he is, I may say, our servant, and if we, who are above him, find so
+much trouble to make both ends meet, I don't know what he'll do."
+
+"But Mr Hallam has a very good salary, I presume?"
+
+"I tell T. it is too much, and old Mr Dixon and Sir Gordon might have
+taken a hundred off, and let us draw it.  I don't approve of the match
+at all."
+
+"Indeed, Mrs Trampleasure," said Bayle, who felt hurt at hearing her
+speak like this.
+
+"Yes; I'm Millicent's aunt, and I think I ought to have been consulted
+more--but there! it is of no use to speak to my brother; and as to
+Millicent--she always did just as she liked with her mother!  Poor Kitty
+is very weak!"
+
+"I always find Mrs Luttrell very sweet and motherly."
+
+"Not so motherly as I am, Mr Bayle," said the lady bluntly.  "Ah, it's
+a great stress on a woman--a large family--especially when the father
+takes things so coolly.  I shouldn't speak to every one like this, you
+know, but one can talk to one's clergyman.  Do you like Mr Hallam?"
+
+"I find him very gentlemanly."
+
+"Ah, yes, he's very gentlemanly.  Well, I'm sure I hope they'll be
+happy; but there's always something in married life, and you do well to
+keep out of it; but, of course, you are so young yet."
+
+"Yes," he said, with a grave, old-looking smile, "I am so young yet."
+
+"You don't know what a family is, Mr Bayle.  There's always something;
+when it isn't measles it's scarlatina, and when it isn't scarlatina it's
+boots and shoes."
+
+"Oh, but children are a deal of comfort, Sophia," said the doctor,
+coming up after whispering to Mrs Luttrell that his sister looked
+grumpy.
+
+"Some children may be, Joseph--mine are not," sighed Mrs Trampleasure,
+and the doctor went back to his wife.  "Ah, Mr Bayle, if I were to tell
+you one-half of the troubles I've been through I should harass you."
+
+"Kitty," said the doctor, "I want everything to go well to-night.  Try
+and coax Sophia away, she's forcing her doldrums on Mr Bayle."
+
+"But how am I to get her away, dear?  You know what she is."
+
+"Try to persuade her to taste the brandy cherries, or we shall be having
+her in tears.  I'll come and help you."  They walked back to where Mrs
+Trampleasure was still talking away hard in a querulous voice.
+
+"Ah! you've come back, Joseph," she said, cutting short her remarks to
+the curate to return to her complaint to her brother.  "I was saying
+that some children are a pleasure; but it did not seem as if you could
+listen to me."
+
+"My dear Sophia, I'll listen to you all night, but Kitty wants you to
+give your opinion about some brandy cherries."
+
+"My opinion?" said the lady loudly.  "I have no opinion.  I never taste
+such luxuries."
+
+Millicent could not help hearing a portion of her aunt's querulous
+remarks, and, out of sheer pity for one of the recipients, she turned to
+her Uncle Trampleasure, who always kept on the other side of the room.
+
+"Uncle, dear," she said, "aunt is murmuring so.  Do try and stop it."
+
+"Stop it, my dear?" he said smiling sadly.  "Ah, if you knew your aunt
+as well as I do you would never check her murmurs; they carry off her
+ill-temper.  No, no, my dear, it would be dangerous to stop it.  I
+always let it go on."
+
+There was no need to check Mrs Trampleasure after all.  Mr Bayle threw
+himself into the breach, and made her forget her own troubles by
+consulting her about some changes that he proposed making in the parish.
+
+That changed the course of her thoughts, and in the intervals of the
+music, and often during the progress of some song, she alluded to
+different matters that had given her annoyance ever since she had been a
+girl.
+
+It was not an agreeable duty, that of keeping Mrs Trampleasure amused,
+but Millicent rewarded him with a grateful smile, and Bayle was content.
+
+There was a pleasant little supper that was announced unpleasantly just
+as Miss Heathery had consented to sing again, and was telling the
+assembly in a bird-like voice how gaily the troubadour touched his
+guita-h-ah, as he was hastening home from the wah.
+
+"Supper's ready," said a loud, harsh voice, which cut like an arrow
+right through Miss Heathery's best note.
+
+"Now you shouldn't, Thisbe," said Mrs Luttrell in tones of mild
+reproach; but the reproof was not heard, for the door was sharply
+closed.
+
+"It is only our Thisbe's way, Mr Bayle," whispered Mrs Luttrell;
+"please don't notice it.  Excellent servant, but so soon put out."
+
+She nodded confidentially, and then stole out on tiptoe, so as not to
+interrupt Miss Heathery, who went on--"singing from Palestine hither I
+come," to the end.
+
+Then words of reproof and sharp retort could be heard outside; and after
+a while poor Mrs Luttrell came back looking very red, to lean over the
+curate from behind the sofa, brooding over him as if he were a favourite
+chicken.
+
+"I don't like finding fault with the servants, Mr Bayle.  Did you hear
+me?"
+
+"I could not help hearing," he said smiling.
+
+"She does provoke me so," continued Mrs Luttrell in a soft clucking
+way, that quite accorded with her brooding.  "I know I shall have to
+discharge her."
+
+"She does not like a little extra trouble, perhaps.  Company."
+
+"Oh, no; it's not that," said Mrs Luttrell.  "She'll work night and day
+for one if she's in a good temper; but, the fact is, Mr Bayle, she does
+not like this engagement, and quite hates Mr Hallam."
+
+Bayle drew his breath hard, but he turned a grave, smiling face to his
+hostess.
+
+"That's the reason, I'm sure, why she is so awkward to-night, my dear--I
+beg pardon, I mean Mr Bayle," said the old lady colouring as
+ingenuously as a girl, "but she pretends it is about the potatoes."
+
+"Potatoes?" said Bayle, who was eager to divert her thoughts.
+
+"Yes.  You see the doctor is so proud of his potatoes, and I was going
+to please him by having some roasted for supper and brought up in a
+napkin, but Thisbe took offence directly, and said that cold chicken and
+hot potatoes would be ridiculous, and she has been in a huff ever
+since."
+
+Just then the door opened and the person in question entered, to come
+straight to Mrs Luttrell, who began to tremble and look at the curate
+for help.
+
+"There's something gone wrong," she whispered.
+
+"Can I speak to you, please, mum?" said Thisbe, glaring at her severely.
+
+"Well, I don't know, Thisbe, I--"
+
+"Let me go out and speak to Thisbe, mamma dear," said Millicent, who had
+crossed the room, divining what was wrong.
+
+"Oh, if you would, my dear," said Mrs Luttrell eagerly; and Thisbe was
+compelled to retreat, her young mistress following her out of the room.
+
+"That's very good of her, Mr Bayle," said Mrs Luttrell, with a
+satisfied sigh.  "Millicent can always manage Thisbe.  She has such a
+calm, dignified way with her.  Do you know she is the only one who can
+manage her Aunt Trampleasure when she begins to murmur.  Ah, I don't
+know what I shall do when she has gone."
+
+"You will have the satisfaction of knowing that she is happy with the
+man she loves."
+
+"I don't know, Mr Bayle, I--Oh dear me, I ought to be ashamed of myself
+for speaking like this.  Hush! here she is."
+
+In effect Millicent came back into the room to where her mother was
+sitting.
+
+"Only a little domestic difficulty, Mr Bayle.  Mamma, dear, it is all
+smoothed away, and Thisbe is very penitent."
+
+"And she will bring up the roast potatoes in the napkin, my dear?"
+
+"Yes," cried Millicent, laughing merrily, "she has retracted all her
+opposition, and we are to have two dishes of papa's best."
+
+"In napkins, my dear?" cried Mrs Luttrell eagerly; "both in napkins?"
+
+"Yes, mamma, in the whitest napkins she can find."  She glanced at
+Christie Bayle's grave countenance, and felt her heart smite her for
+being so happy and joyous in his presence.
+
+"Don't think us childish, Mr Bayle," she said gently.  "It is to please
+my father."
+
+He rose and stood by her side for a moment or two.
+
+"Childish?" he said in a low voice, "as if I could think such a thing of
+you."
+
+Millicent smiled her thanks, and crossed the room to where Hallam was
+watching her.  The next minute supper was again announced--simple,
+old-fashioned supper--and Millicent went out on Hallam's arm.
+
+"You are going to take me in, Mr Bayle?  Well, I'm sure I'd rather,"
+said Mrs Luttrell, "and I can then see, my dear, that you have a good
+supper.  There, I'm saying `my dear' to you again."
+
+"It is because I seem so young, Mrs Luttrell," replied Bayle gravely.
+
+"Oh no, my dear," said Mrs Luttrell innocently; "it was because you
+seemed to come among us so like a son, and took to the doctor's way with
+his garden, and were so nice with Millicent.  I used to think that
+perhaps you two might--Oh, dear me," she cried, checking herself
+suddenly, "what a tongue I have got!  Pray don't take any notice of what
+I say."
+
+There was no change in Christie Bayle's countenance, for the smile hid
+the pang he suffered as he took in the pleasant garrulous old lady to
+supper; but that night he paced his room till daybreak, fighting a
+bitter fight, and asking for strength to bear the agony of his heart.
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+JAMES THICKENS IS MYSTERIOUS.
+
+"I think, previous to taking this step, Sir Gordon, I may ask if you and
+Mr Dixon are quite satisfied?  I believe the books show a state of
+prosperity."
+
+"That does us credit, Mr Hallam," said Sir Gordon quietly.  "Yes, Mr
+Dixon bids me say that he is perfectly satisfied--eh, Mr Trampleasure?"
+
+"Quite, Sir Gordon--more than satisfied," replied Mr Trampleasure, who
+was standing with his hands beneath his coat-tails, balancing himself on
+toe and heel, and bowing as he spoke with an air that he believed to be
+very impressive.
+
+"Then, before we close this little meeting, I suppose it only remains
+for me to ask you if you have any questions to ask of the firm, any
+demands to make?"  Hallam rose from behind the table covered with books
+and balance-sheets in the manager's room of the bank, placed his hand in
+his breast, and in a quiet, dignified way, replied:
+
+"Questions to ask, Sir Gordon--demands to make?  No; only to repeat my
+former question.  Are you satisfied?"
+
+"_I_ did reply to that," said Sir Gordon, who looked brown and
+sunburned, consequent upon six weeks' yachting in the Mediterranean;
+"but have you no other question or demand to make previous to your
+marriage?"
+
+"Excuse me," said Mr Trampleasure, "excuse me.  I want to say one word.
+Hem! hem!--I er--I er--"
+
+"What is it, Trampleasure?" said Sir Gordon.
+
+"It is in regard to a question I believe Mr Hallam is about to put to
+the firm.  I may say that Mrs Trampleasure drew my attention to the
+matter, consequent upon a rumour in the town in connection with Mr
+Hallam's marriage."
+
+Hallam raised his eyebrows and smiled.
+
+"Have they settled the date?" he said pleasantly.
+
+"No, sir, not that I am aware of; but Mrs Trampleasure has been given
+to understand that Mr Hallam, upon his marriage, will wish, and is
+about to send in a request for the apartments connected with this bank
+that I have always occupied.  It would be a great inconvenience to Mrs
+Trampleasure with our family--I mean to me--to have to move."
+
+"My dear Sir Gordon," said Hallam, interrupting, "allow me to set Mr
+Trampleasure at rest.  I have taken the little Manor House, and have
+given orders for the furniture."
+
+"There, Trampleasure," said Sir Gordon.  "Don't take any notice of
+gossips for the future."
+
+"Hem!  I will not; but Mr Gemp is so well-informed generally."
+
+"That he is naturally wrong sometimes," said Sir Gordon.  "By-the-way,
+are they ever going to put that man under the pump?  Now, Mr Hallam,
+have you anything more to ask?"
+
+"Certainly not, Sir Gordon," replied the manager stiffly.  "I understand
+your allusion, of course; but I have only to say that I look upon my
+engagement here as a commercial piece of business to be strictly adhered
+to, and that I know of nothing more degrading to a man than making every
+change in his life an excuse for asking an increase of salary."
+
+"And you do not wish to take a holiday trip on the occasion of your
+wedding?"
+
+"No, Sir Gordon."
+
+"But the lady?"
+
+"Miss Luttrell knows that she is about to marry a business man, Sir
+Gordon, and accepts her fate," said Hallam with a smile.
+
+"Of course you can take a month.  I'm sure Trampleasure and Thickens
+would manage everything in your absence."
+
+"Excuse me, Sir Gordon, I have no doubt whatever that everything would
+run like a repeater-watch in my absence; but, with the responsibility of
+manager of this bank, I could not feel comfortable to run away just in
+our busiest time.  Later on I may take a trip."
+
+"Just as you like, Hallam, just as you like.  Then that is all we have
+to do?"
+
+"Everything, Sir Gordon.  Yes, Mr Thickens, I will come;" for the clerk
+had tapped at the door and summoned him into the bank.
+
+"Dig for you, Trampleasure, about the salary, eh?" said Sir Gordon, as
+soon as they were alone.
+
+"And in very bad taste, too," said Trampleasure stiffly.
+
+"Ah, well, he's a good manager," said Sir Gordon.  "How I hate figures!
+They'll be buzzing in my head for a week."
+
+He rose and walked to the glass to begin arranging his cravat and
+shirt-collar, buttoning the bottom of his coat, and pulling down his
+buff vest, so that it could be well seen.  Then adjusting his hat at a
+correct gentlemanly angle, and tapping the tassels of his Hessian boots
+to make them swing free, he bade Trampleasure good-morning and sauntered
+down the street, twirling his cane with all the grace of an old beau.
+
+"I don't like that man," he said to himself, "and I never did; but his
+management of the bank is superb.  Only one shaky loan this last six
+months, and he thinks we shall clear ourselves, if we wait before we
+sell.  Bah!  I'm afraid I'm as great a humbug as the rest of the world.
+If he had not won little Millicent, I should have thought him a very
+fine fellow, I dare say."
+
+He strolled on towards the doctor's, thinking as he went.
+
+"No, I don't think I should have liked him," he mused.  "He's
+gentlemanly and polished; but too gentlemanly and polished.  It is like
+a mask and suit that to my mind do not fit.  Then, hang it! how did he
+manage to win that girl?"
+
+"Cleverness.  That calm air of superiority; that bold deference, and his
+good looks.  I've seen it all; he has let her go on talking in her
+clever way--and she is clever; and then when he has thought she has gone
+on long enough, he has checked her with a touch of the tiller, and
+thrown all the wind out of her sails, leaving her swinging on the ocean
+of conjecture.  Just what she would like; made to feel that, clever as
+she is, he could be her master when and where he pleased.  Yes, that is
+it, and I suppose I hate him for it.  No, no.  It would not have been
+right, even if I could have won.  I would not be prejudiced against him
+more than I can help; but I'm afraid we shall never be any closer than
+we are."
+
+That afternoon Mr Hallam of the bank was exceedingly busy; so was James
+Thickens, at the counter, now giving, now receiving and cancelling and
+booking cheques or greasy notes, some of which were almost too much worn
+to be deciphered.
+
+The time went on, and it was the hour for closing the doors.  Thickens
+had had to go in and out of the manager's room several times, and Hallam
+was always busy writing letters.  He looked up, and answered questions,
+or gave instructions, and then went on again, while each time, when
+James Thickens came out, he looked more uneasy.  That is to say, to any
+one who thoroughly understood James Thickens, he would have looked
+uneasy.  To a stranger he would only have seemed peculiar, for
+involuntarily at such times he had a habit of moving his scalp very
+slowly, drawing his hair down over his forehead, while his eyebrows rose
+up to meet it.  Then, with mechanical regularity, they separated again;
+and all the while his eyes were fixed, and seemed to be gazing at
+something that was not there.
+
+"You need not wait, Thickens," said Hallam, opening his door at length.
+"I want to finish a few letters."
+
+The clerk rose and left the place after his customary walk round with
+keys, and the transferring of certain moneys to the safe; and, as soon
+as he was gone, Hallam locked his door communicating with the house, and
+began to busy himself in the safe, examining docketed securities,
+ticking them off, arranging and rearranging, hour after hour.
+
+And during those hours James Thickens seemed to be prosecuting a love
+affair, for, instead of going home to his tea and gold-fish, he walked
+down the market place for some distance, turned sharp back, knocked at a
+door, and was admitted.  Then old Gemp, who had been sweeping his narrow
+horizon, put on his hat, and walked across to Mrs Pinet, who was as
+usual watering her geraniums, and hunting for withered leaves that did
+not exist.
+
+"Two weddings, Mrs P.!" he said with a leer.
+
+"Lor', Mr Gemp, what do you mean?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Two weddings, ma'am.  Your Mr Hallam first, and Thickens directly
+after.  No more bachelors at the bank, ma'am."
+
+"Why, you don't mean to say that Mr Thickens--oh, dear me!"
+
+"But I do mean to say it, ma'am.  He's dropped in at Miss Heathery's as
+coolly as can be; and has hung his hat up behind the door."
+
+"You don't say so!"
+
+"Oh yes, I do.  It's her doing.  Going there four or five times a week
+to cash cheques, and he has grown reckless.  Let's wait till he comes
+out."
+
+"Perhaps, then," said Mrs Pinet primly, "people may begin saying things
+about me."
+
+"There'll be no one to say it," said Gemp innocently.  "Let's see how
+long he stops.  I can't very well from my place."
+
+"I couldn't think of such a thing," said Mrs Pinet, grandly.  "Mr
+Hallam will be in directly, too.  No, Mr Gemp, I'm no watcher of my
+neighbours' affairs;" and she went indoors.
+
+"Very well, madam.  _Ve-ry_ well," said Gemp.  "We shall see;" and he
+walked back home to stand in his doorway for three hours before he saw
+Thickens come from where he had ensconced himself behind Miss Heathery's
+curtain with his eyes fixed upon the bank.
+
+At the end of those three hours Mr Hallam passed, looking very
+thoughtful, and five minutes later James Thickens went home to his
+gold-fish and tea.
+
+"Took care Hallam didn't see him," chuckled Gemp, rubbing his hands.
+"Oh, the artfulness of these people!  Thinks he has as good a right to
+marry as Hallam himself.  Well, why not?  Make him more staid and solid,
+better able to take care of the deeds and securities, and pounds,
+shillings, and pence, and--hullo!--hello!--hello!  What's the meaning of
+this!"
+
+_This_ was the appearance of a couple coming from the direction of the
+doctor's house, and the couple were Miss Heathery, who had been spending
+a few hours with Millicent--in other words, seeing her preparations for
+the wedding--and Sir Gordon Bourne, who was going in her direction and
+walked home with her.
+
+"Why, Thickens didn't see her after all!"
+
+No: James Thickens had not seen her, and Miss Heathery had not seen
+James Thickens.
+
+"Who?" she cried, as soon as Sir Gordon had ceremoniously bidden her
+"Good-night," raising his curly brimmed hat, and putting it back.
+
+"Mr Thickens, ma'am," cried the little maid eagerly; "and when I told
+him you was out, he said, might he wait, and I showed him in the
+parlour."
+
+"And he's there now?" whispered Miss Heathery, who began tremblingly to
+take off the very old pair of gloves she kept for evening wear, the
+others being safe in her reticule.
+
+"No, ma'am, please he has been gone these ten minutes."
+
+"But what did he say?" cried Miss Heathery querulously.
+
+"Said he wanted to see you particular, ma'am."
+
+"Oh dear me; oh dear me!" sighed Miss Heathery.  "Was ever anything so
+unfortunate?  How could I tell that he would come when I was out?"
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+MR HALLAM HAS A VISITOR.
+
+Mysteries were painful to old Gemp.  If any one had propounded a riddle,
+and gone away without supplying the answer, he would have been terribly
+aggrieved.
+
+He was still frowning, and trying to get over the mystery of why James
+Thickens should be at Miss Heathery's when that lady was out, and his
+ideas were turning in the direction of the little maid, when a wholesome
+stimulus was given to his thoughts by the arrival of the London coach,
+the alighting of whose passengers he had hardly once missed seeing for
+years.
+
+Hurrying up to the front of the "George," he was just in time to see a
+dashing-looking young fellow, who had just alighted from the box-seat,
+stretching his legs, and beating his boots with a cane.  He had been
+giving orders for his little valise to be carried into the house, and
+was staring about him in the half-light, when he became aware of the
+fact that old Gemp was watching him curiously.
+
+He involuntarily turned away; but seeming to master himself, he turned
+back, and said sharply, "Where does Mr Hallam live?"
+
+"Mr Hallam!" cried Gemp eagerly; "bank's closed hours ago."
+
+"I didn't ask for the bank.  Where is Mr Hallam's private residence?"
+
+"Well," said Gemp, rubbing his hands and laughing unpleasantly, "that's
+it--the `Little Manor' as he calls it; but it's a big place, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, he lives there, does he?" said the visitor, glancing curiously at
+the ivy-covered house across the way.
+
+"Not yet," said Gemp.  "That's where he is going to live when--"
+
+"He's married.  I know.  Now then, old Solomon, if you can answer a
+plain question, where does he live now?"
+
+"Mrs Pinet's house, yonder on the left, where the porch stands out, and
+the flower-pots are in the window."
+
+"Humph! hasn't moved, then.  Let's see," muttered the visitor, "that's
+where I took the flower-pot to throw at the dog.  No: that's the house."
+
+"Can I--?" began Gemp insidiously.
+
+"No, thankye.  Good evening," said the visitor.  "You can tell 'em I've
+come.  Ta ta!  Gossipping old fool!" he added to himself, as he walked
+quickly down the street; while, after staring after him for a few
+minutes, Gemp turned sharply on his heel, and made for Gorringe's--Mr
+Gorringe being the principal tailor.
+
+Mr Gorringe's day's work was done, consequently his legs were
+uncrossed, and he was seated in a Christian-like manner--that is to say,
+in a chair just inside his door, smoking his evening pipe, but still in
+his shirtsleeves, and with an inch tape gracefully hanging over his neck
+and shoulders.
+
+"I say, neighbour," cried Gemp eagerly, "you bank with Dixons'."
+
+Mr Gorringe's pipe fell from his hand, and broke into a dozen pieces
+upon the floor.
+
+"Is--is anything wrong?" he gasped; "and it's past banking hours."
+
+"Yah! get out!" cried old Gemp, showing his yellow teeth.  "You're
+always thinking about your few pence in the bank.  Why, I bank there,
+and you don't see me going into fits.  Yah! what a coward you are!"
+
+"Then--then, there's nothing wrong?"
+
+"Wrong?  No."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the tailor.  "Mary, bring me another pipe."
+
+"I only come in a friendly way," cried Gemp, "to put you on your guard."
+
+"Then there is something wrong," cried the tailor, aghast.
+
+"No, no, no.  I want to give you a hint about Hallam."
+
+"Hallam!"
+
+"Ay!  Has he ordered his wedding-suit of you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Thought not," said Gemp, rubbing his hands.  "I should be down upon him
+if I were you.  Threaten to withdraw my account, man.  Dandy chap down
+from London to-night to take his orders."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes.  By the coach.  Saw he was a tailor in a moment.  Wouldn't stand
+it if I were you."
+
+Mrs Pinet, who came to the door with a candle, in answer to a sharp rap
+with the visitor's cane, held up her candle above her head, and stared
+at him for a moment.  Then a smile dimpled her pleasant, plump face.
+
+"Why, bless me, sir! how you have changed!" she said.
+
+"You know me again, then?" he said nodding familiarly.
+
+"That I do, sir, and I am glad.  You're the young gentleman Mr Hallam
+helped just about a year ago."
+
+"Yes, that's me.  Is he at home?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Will you come this way?"
+
+Mrs Pinet drew back to allow the visitor to enter, closed the door, set
+down her candle, and then tapped softly on the panel at her right.
+
+"Here's that gentleman to see you, sir," she said, in response to the
+quick "Come in."
+
+"Gentleman to see me?  Oh, it's you," said Hallam, rising from his seat
+to stand very upright and stern-looking, with one hand in his breast.
+
+"Yes, I've come down again," said the visitor slowly, so as to give Mrs
+Pinet time to get outside the door; and then, by mutual consent, they
+waited until her step had pattered over the carefully-reddened old
+bricks, and a door at the back closed.
+
+Meanwhile Hallam's eyes ran rapidly over his visitor's garb, and he
+seemed satisfied, though he smiled a little at the extravagance of the
+attire.
+
+"Why have you come down?" he said at last.  "Because I didn't want to
+write.  Because I thought you'd like to know how things were going.
+Because I wanted to see how you were getting on.  Because I thought
+you'd be glad to see me."
+
+"Because you wanted more money.  Because you thought you could put on
+the screw.  Because you thought you could frighten me.  Pish!  I could
+extend your list of reasons indefinitely, Stephen Crellock, my lad,"
+said Hallam, in a quiet tone of voice that was the more telling from the
+anger it evidently concealed.
+
+"What a one you are, Robby, old fellow!  Just as you used to be when we
+were at--"
+
+"Let the past rest," said Hallam in a whisper.  "It will be better for
+both."
+
+"Oh-h-h-h!" said his visitor, in a peculiar way.  "Don't talk like that,
+Rob, old chap.  It sounds like making plans, and a tall, handsome man in
+disguise waylaying a well-dressed gentleman from town, shooting him with
+pistols, carrying the body in the dead of the night to the bank,
+doubling it up in an iron chest, pouring in a lot of lime, and then
+shutting the lid, sealing it up, and locking it in the far corner of the
+bank cellar, as if it was somebody's plate.  That's the game, eh?"
+
+"I should like to," said Hallam coolly.
+
+"Ha--ha--ha--ha!" laughed his visitor, sitting down; "but I'm not
+afraid, Rob, or I should not have put my head in the lion's den.  That's
+not the sort of thing you would do, because you always were so
+gentlemanly, and had such a tender conscience.  See how grieved you were
+when I got into trouble, and you escaped."
+
+"Will you--"
+
+"Will I what?  Speak like that before any one else?  Will I threaten you
+with telling tales, if you don't give me money to keep my mouth shut?
+Will I be a sneak?" cried Crellock, speaking quite as fiercely as
+Hallam, and rising to his feet, and looking, in spite of his ultra
+costume, a fine manly fellow.
+
+"Well, yes, you cowardly cur; have you come down to do this now?" said
+Hallam menacingly.
+
+"Pish!" said the other contemptuously as he let himself sink back slowly
+into his chair.  "Don't try and bully, Rob.  It did when I came down,
+weak and half-starved and miserable, after two years' imprisonment; but
+it won't do now.  I don't look hard up, do I?"
+
+"No; because you've spent my money on your wretched dress."
+
+"I only spent your money when I couldn't make any for myself.  I haven't
+had a penny of you lately; and as to being a coward and a cur, Rob, when
+I stood in the dock, and you were brought as a witness against me, and I
+could have got off half my punishment by speaking the truth, was I a
+sneak then, or did I stand, firm?"
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"Answer me; did I stand firm then?" cried Crellock.
+
+"You did stand firm, and I have been grateful," said Hallam, in a milder
+tone.  "Look here, Stephen, why should we quarrel?"
+
+"Ah, that's better, man," said Crellock, laughing.  "You were so
+terribly fierce with me last time, and I was brought down to a door-mat.
+Anybody might have wiped his shoes on me.  I'm better now."
+
+"And you've come down to try and bully me," said Hallam fiercely.
+
+His visitor sat back, looking at him hard, without speaking for a few
+minutes, and then he said quietly:
+
+"I give it up."
+
+"Give what up--the attempt?"
+
+"I couldn't give that up, because I was not going to attempt anything,"
+said Crellock, smiling; "I mean give it up about you.  What is it in
+you, Rob Hallam, that made so many fellows like you, and give way to you
+in everything?  I don't know.  But there, never mind that.  Won't you
+shake hands?"
+
+"Tell me first why you have come down here.  Do you want money?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why did you come down?"
+
+Crellock's face softened a little, and it was not an ill-looking
+countenance as he sat there, softly tapping the arm of the chair.  At
+last he spoke.
+
+"I never had many friends," he said huskily.  "Father and mother went
+when I was a little one, and Uncle Richard gave me my education, telling
+me brutally that I was an encumbrance.  I always had to stop at school
+through the holidays, and when I was old enough he put me, as you know,
+in the bank, and told me he had done his duty by me, and I must now look
+to myself."
+
+"Yes, I know," said Hallam, coldly.
+
+"Then I got to know you, Rob, and you seemed always to be everything a
+man ought to be--handsome, and clever at every game, the best writer,
+the best at figures.  Then, after office hours, you could sing and play,
+and tell the best story.  There, Rob, you know I always got to feel
+towards you as if I was your dog.  There was nothing I wouldn't have
+done for you.  Then came those--"
+
+"Hush!"
+
+"Well, I'm not going to say anything dangerous.  You know how I behaved.
+I did think you would have made it a bit easier for me, when it was
+found out; but when you turned against me like the rest, I said to
+myself that it was all right, that it was no good for two to bear it
+when one could take the lot, and if you had turned against me it was
+only because it was what you called good policy, and it would be all
+right again when I came out I thought you'd stick to me, Rob."
+
+"How could I, a man in a good position, know a--"
+
+"Felon--a convicted thief?  There, say it, old fellow, if you like.  I
+don't mind; I got pretty well hardened down yonder.  No: of course you
+couldn't, and I know I was a fool to come down as I did before, such a
+shack-bag as I was.  Out of temper, too, and savage to see you looking
+so well; but I know it was foolish.  It was enough to make you turn on
+me.  But I'm different now: I've got on a bit."
+
+"What are you doing?" said Hallam sharply.
+
+"Oh, never mind," said the other, laughing.  "I've opened an office, and
+I'm doing pretty well, and I thought I'd come down and see you again,
+Rob, old fellow, and--You'll shake hands?"
+
+"Is this a bit of maudlin sentiment, Stephen Crellock, or are you
+playing some deep game?"
+
+Hallam's visitor rose again and stood before him with his hand
+outstretched.
+
+"Deep game!" he said softly.  "Rob, old fellow, do you think a man can
+be all a blackguard, without one good spot in him?  Ah, well, just as
+you like," he continued, dropping his hand heavily; "I was a fool to
+come; I always have been a fool.  I was cat, Rob, and you were monkey,
+and I got my paws most preciously burned.  But I didn't come down to
+grumble.  There; good-night!"
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Back to the `George' and to-morrow I shall go up to the gold-paved
+streets.  There, you need not be afraid, man.  If I didn't tell tales
+when I was in the dock, I shan't now.  I thought, after all, that you
+were my friend."
+
+"And so I am, Steve!" cried Hallam, after a few moments' hesitation, and
+he held out his hand.  "We'll be as good friends again as ever, and you
+shall not suffer this time."
+
+Crellock stifled a sob as he caught the extended hand, to wring it with
+all his force; then, turning away, he laid his arms upon the
+chimney-piece, his head dropped upon them, and for a few minutes he
+cried like a child.
+
+Hallam stood fuming and gazing down upon him, with an ugly look of
+contempt distorting his handsome features.  Then taking a step forward,
+he laid his hand upon his visitor's shoulder.
+
+"Come, come!" he said softly.  "Don't go on like that."  Crellock rose
+quickly, and dashed the tears from his eyes, with a piteous attempt at a
+laugh.
+
+"That's me all over, Rob," he said.  "Did you ever see such a weak fool?
+I was bad enough before I had that two years' low fever; I'm worse now,
+for it was spirit-breaking work."
+
+"Soft wax, to mould to any shape," said Hallam to himself.  Then aloud:
+"I don't see anything to be ashamed of in a little natural emotion.
+There, sit down, and let's have a chat."
+
+Crellock caught his hand and gripped it hard.  "Thank ye, Hallam," he
+said huskily, "thank ye; I shan't forget this.  I told you I'd always
+felt as if I was your dog.  I feel so more than ever now."
+
+"They're sitting a long time," said Mrs Pinet, as she raked out the
+kitchen fire to the very last red-hot cinder.  "Mr Hallam seemed quite
+pleased with him; he's altered so for the better.  He said I needn't sit
+up, and so I will go to bed."
+
+Mrs Pinet sought her room, and about twelve heard the door close on the
+stranger, between whom and Hallam a good deal of eager conversation had
+passed in a low tone.
+
+"You see I'm trusting you," said Hallam as they parted.
+
+"You know you can," was the reply.  "And now, look here, if anything
+goes wrong--"
+
+"I tell you, if you do as I have arranged, nothing can go wrong.  I want
+an agent in London, whom I can implicitly trust, and I am going to trust
+you.  Once more, your task is to do exactly what I tell you."
+
+"But if anything goes wrong, I can't write to you."
+
+"Nothing can go wrong, I tell you."
+
+"Yes," said Crellock to himself, "you told me that once before."  Then
+aloud:
+
+"Well, we will say nothing can go wrong, for I shall do exactly what you
+have said; but if anything should, I shall come down, and if you see
+me--look out."
+
+VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+LIKE GATHERING CLOUDS.
+
+There is one very pleasant element in country-town life, and that is the
+breadth of the feeling known as neighbourly.  It is often veined by
+scandal, disfigured by petty curiosity, but a genial feeling, like a
+solid stratum underlies it all, and makes it firm.  Mrs White gets into
+difficulties, and her furniture is sold by auction; but the neighbours
+flock to the sale, and the love of bargains is so overridden that the
+old things often fetch as much as new.  Mrs Black's family are ill, and
+every one around takes a real and helpful interest.  Mrs Scarlet's
+husband dies, and a fancy fair is held on her behalf.  Then how every
+one collects at the marriage: how all follow at the death!  It must be
+something very bad indeed that has been committed if, after the
+customary unpleasant and censorious remarks about walking blindfold into
+such a slough, Green is not drawn out by helping hands--in fact, there
+is a kind of clannishness in a country-town, disfigured by the gossips,
+but very true and earnest all the same.
+
+Consequently as soon as the day was fixed for Millicent Luttrell's
+wedding, presents came pouring in from old patients and young friends.
+A meeting was held at the Corn Exchange, at which Sir Gordon Bourne was
+to take the chair, but at which he did not put in an appearance, and the
+Reverend Christie Bayle took his place, while resolutions were moved and
+carried that a testimonial should be presented to our eminent
+fellow-townsman, Robert Hallam, Esq, on the occasion of his marriage
+with the daughter of our esteemed and talented neighbour, Dr Luttrell.
+
+The service of plate was presented at a dinner, where speeches were
+made, to which Mr Hallam, of the bank, responded fluently, gracefully,
+and to the point.
+
+Here, too, Christie Bayle took the chair, and had the task of presenting
+the silver, after reading the inscription aloud, amidst abundant cheers;
+and as he passed the glittering present to the recipient, their eyes
+met.
+
+As their eyes met there was a pleasant smile upon Hallam's lip, and a
+thought in his heart that he alone could have interpreted, while Bayle's
+could have been read by any one skilled in the human countenance, as he
+breathed a hope that Millicent Luttrell might be made a happy wife.
+
+The whole town was in a ferment--not a particular state of affairs for
+King's Castor--in fact, the people of that town in His Majesty's
+dominions were always waiting for a chance to effervesce and alter the
+prevailing stagnation for a time.  Hence it was that the town band
+practised up a new tune; the grass was mowed in the churchyard, and some
+of the weeds cleared out from the gravel path.  Miss Heathery went to
+the expense of a new bonnet and silk dress, and indulged in a passionate
+burst of weeping in the secrecy of her own room, because she was not
+asked to act as bridesmaid; and though Gorringe did not obtain any order
+from the bridegroom, he was favoured by Mr James Thickens to make him a
+blue dress-coat with triple-gilt buttons--a coat so blue, and whose
+buttons were such dazzling disks of metal, that it was not until it had
+been in the tailor's window, finished, and "on show" for three days,
+that James Thickens awakened to the fact that it was his, and paid a
+nocturnal visit to Gorringe to beg him to send it home.
+
+"But you don't want it till the day, Mr Thickens," said the tailor,
+"and that coat's bringing me orders."
+
+"But I shall never dare to wear it, Gorringe--everybody will know it."
+
+"Of course they will, sir!" said the tailor proudly, and glancing
+towards his window with that half-smile an artist wears when his
+successful picture is on view, "that's a coat such as is not seen in
+Castor every day.  Look at the collar!  There's two days' hard stitching
+in that collar, sir!"
+
+"I have looked at the collar," said Thickens hastily, "and I must have
+it home."
+
+Gorringe gave way, and the coat went home; but he felt, as he said to
+his wife, as if he had been robbed, for that coat would have won the
+hearts of half the farmers round.
+
+At the doctor's cottage Mrs Luttrell was in one constant whirl of
+excitement, with four clever seamstresses at work, for at King's Castor
+a bride's _trousseau_ was called by a much simpler name, and provided
+throughout at home, along with the house-linen, which in those days
+meant linen of the finest and coolest, and it was absolutely necessary
+that every article that could be stitched should be stitched with rows
+of the finest stitches, carefully put in.
+
+"You're about worrying yourself into a fever, my dear," said the doctor
+smiling, "and I can't afford such patients as you.  Where can I have
+this bunch of radish-seed hung up to dry?  Give it to Thisbe to hang in
+the kitchen."
+
+"Now, my dear Joseph, how can you be so unreasonable!" cried Mrs
+Luttrell, half whimpering.  "Radish-seed at a time like this!  Thisbe is
+re-covering the pots of jam."
+
+"What jam?  What for?"
+
+"For Millicent.  You don't suppose I'm going to let her begin
+housekeeping without a pot of jam in the storeroom!"
+
+"Thank goodness I've only one child!" said the doctor with a
+half-amused, half-vexed countenance.
+
+"Why, papa, you always said you wished we had had a boy."
+
+"Ah, I did not know that I should have to suffer all this when the
+wedding time came."
+
+"Now, if you would only go into your garden, and see to your patients,
+my love, everything would go right!" cried Mrs Luttrell; "but you are
+so impatient!  Look at Millicent, how quiet and calm she is!"
+
+The doctor had looked at Millicent as she stole out to him in the
+garden--often now, as if moved by a desire to be as much with him as she
+could before the great step of her life was taken.
+
+There was a quiet look of satisfaction in her eyes that told of her
+content, and the happy peace that reigned within her breast.
+
+The doctor understood her, as she came to him when at work, questioning
+him about the blossoms of this rose, and the success of that creeper,
+and taking endless interest in all he did; and when she was summoned
+away to try something on, or to select some pattern, she smiled and said
+that she would soon be back.
+
+"Ah!" he said with a sigh, "she is trying to break it off gently!" and
+his work ceased until he heard her step, when he became very busy and
+cheerful again, as they both played at hiding from one another the
+separation that was to come.
+
+"Poor papa!" thought Millicent, "he will miss me when I am gone!"
+
+"If that fellow does not behave well to her," said the doctor to
+himself, "and I do happen to be called in to him, I shall--well, I
+suppose it would not be right to do that."  As for Mrs Luttrell, she
+was too busy to think much till she went to bed, and then the doctor
+complained.
+
+"I must have some rest, my dear!" he said plaintively, "and I don't say
+that you will--but if you do have a bad face-ache from sleeping on a
+pillow soaked with tears, don't come to me to prescribe."
+
+It was very near the time, and all was gliding on peacefully towards the
+wedding-day.  Hallam came regularly every evening; and, after a good
+deal of struggling, Mrs Luttrell contrived to call him "my dear,"
+while, by a similar effort of mind, the doctor habituated himself, from
+saying, "Mr Hallam" and "Hallam," to the familiar "Robert," though in
+secret both agreed that it did not seem natural, and did not come
+easily, and never would be Rob or Bob.
+
+One soft, calm evening, as the moon was rising from behind the fine old
+church, and Millicent and Hallam lingered still in the garden among the
+shrubs, where they could see the shaded lamp shining down on Mrs
+Luttrell's white curls and pleasant, intent face, as she busily stitched
+away at a piece of linen for the new house, while the doctor was reading
+an account of some new plants brought home by Sir Joseph Banks,
+Millicent had become very silent.
+
+Hallam was holding her tenderly to his side, and looking down at the
+sweet, calm face, lit by the rising moon, his own in shadow; and after
+watching her rapt aspect for a time, he said, in his deep, musical
+voice:
+
+"How silent and absorbed!  You are not regretting what is so soon to
+be?"
+
+"Regretting!" she cried, starting; and, looking up in his face, she laid
+her hands upon his breast.  "Don't speak to me like that, Robert dear.
+You know me better.  As if I could regret!"
+
+"Then you are quite happy?"
+
+"Happy?  Too happy; and yet so sad!" she murmured softly.  "It seems as
+if life were too full of joy, as if I could not bear so much happiness,
+when it is at the cost of others, and I am giving them pain."
+
+"Don't speak like that, my own!" he said tenderly.  "It is natural that
+a woman should leave father and mother to cling unto her husband."
+
+"Yes, yes: I know," she sighed; "but the pain is given.  They will miss
+me so much.  You are smiling, dear; but this is not conceit.  I am their
+only child, and we have been all in all to each other."
+
+"But you are not going far," he said tenderly.
+
+"No, not far; and yet it is away from them," sighed Millicent, turning
+her head to gaze sadly at the pleasant picture seen through the open
+window.  "Not far: but it is from home."
+
+"But to home," he whispered--"to your home, our home, the home of the
+husband who loves you with all his heart.  Ah, Millicent, I have been so
+poor a wooer, I have failed to say the winning, flattering things so
+pleasant to a woman's ear.  I have felt half dumb before you, as if my
+pleasure was too great for words; and quick and strong as I am with my
+fellows, I have only been an awkward lover at the best."
+
+She laid her soft white hand upon his lips, and gave him a
+half-reproachful look.
+
+"And yet," she said, smiling, "how much stronger your silent wooing has
+been than any words that could have been said!  Did I ever seem like one
+who wanted flattering words and admiration?  Robert, you do not know me
+yet."
+
+"No," he whispered passionately, "not yet, and never shall, for I find
+something more in you to love each time we meet, Millicent--my own--my
+wife!"
+
+She yielded to his embrace, and they remained silent for a time.
+
+At last he spoke.
+
+"But you seemed sad and disappointed to-night.  Have I grieved you in
+any way--have I given you pain?"
+
+"Oh, no," she said, looking gravely in his face, "and you never could.
+Robert," she continued dreamily as she clung to him, "I can see our life
+mapped out in the future till it fades away.  There are pains and
+sorrows, the thorns that strew the wayside of all; but I have always
+your strong, guiding arm to help and protect--always your brave, loving
+words, to sustain me when my spirit will be low, and together, hand in
+hand, we tread that path, patient, hopeful, loving to the end."
+
+"My own!" he whispered.
+
+"I have no fear," she continued; "my love was not given hastily, like
+that of some quickly dazzled girl; my love was slow to awaken; but when
+I felt that it was being sought by one whom I could reverence as well as
+love, I gave it freely--all I had."
+
+"And you are content?"
+
+"I should be truly happy, but for the pain I must give others."
+
+"Only a pang, dear love; that will pass away in the feeling that their
+child is truly happy in her choice.  There, there, the moonlight and the
+solemn look of the night have made you sad.  Let us talk more
+cheerfully.  Come, you must have something to ask of me?"
+
+"No; you have told me everything," she said gravely.  "I wish they could
+have been here to give their blessing on our love."
+
+"Their blessing?" he said half-wonderingly.
+
+"Your mother--your father, Robert," she whispered reverently as she bent
+her head.
+
+"Hush!" he said, and for a few moments they were silent.  "But come," he
+cried, as if trying to give their conversation a more cheerful turn,
+"you must have something more to ask of me.  I mean for our house."
+
+"No," she said; "it is everything I could wish."
+
+"No," he said proudly, "it is too humble for my queen.  If I were rich,
+you should have the fairest jewels, costly retinues--a palace."
+
+"Give me your love, and I have all I need," she cried, laughing, as she
+clung to him.
+
+"Then you must be very rich," he said.  "But is there nothing?  Come,
+you are a free agent now.  In another week you will be my own--my
+property, my slave, bound to me by a ring.  Come, use your liberty while
+you can."
+
+"Well, then, yes," she said; "I will make a demand or two."
+
+"That's right; I am the slave yet, and obey.  What is the first wish?"
+
+"I like Sir Gordon, dear; he has always been so good and kind to me.
+Ask him to come."
+
+"Too late.  He left the town by coach this evening.  From a hint he
+dropped to Thickens about his letters, I think he has gone to Hull, and
+is going on to Spain."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+It was an ejaculation full of pain and sorrow.
+
+"I am grieved," she said softly, and the news brought up that day when
+he had made her the offer of his hand.
+
+Hallam watched her mobile face and its changes as she gazed straight
+before her, towards where the moon was beginning to flood the leaden
+roof of the old church, the crenulated wall, and the crockets on the
+tall spire standing out black and clear against the sky.
+
+His face was still in the shadow.
+
+"There is another request," she said at last, and her voice was very low
+as she spoke.  "Robert, will you ask Mr Bayle to marry us?  I would
+rather it was he."
+
+"Bayle!" he exclaimed, starting, and the word jerked from his lips, as
+if he had suddenly lost control of himself.  "No, it is impossible!"
+
+"Impossible?" she said wonderingly.
+
+"This man has caused me more suffering than I could tell you.  If you
+knew the jealous misery--No, no, I don't mean that," he said quickly as
+he caught her to his breast.
+
+"Oh, Robert!" she cried.
+
+"No, no: don't notice me," he said hastily.  "It was long ago.  He loved
+you, and I was not sure of you then.  Yes, darling, I will ask him, if
+you wish it.  That folly is all dead now."
+
+"Robert," she said, after a thoughtful pause, "do you wish me to give up
+that request?"
+
+"Give up?  No, I should be ready to insist upon it if you did.  There,
+that is all past.  It was the one boyish folly of my love, one of which
+I am heartily ashamed."
+
+"I think he wants to be your friend as well as mine," she said, "and I
+should have liked it; but--"
+
+"Your will is my law, Millicent!  He shall marry us."
+
+"But, Robert--"
+
+"If you oppose me now in this, I shall think you have not forgiven the
+folly to which I have confessed.  I can hardly forgive myself that
+meanness.  You will not add to my pain."
+
+"Add to your pain?" she said, laying her hand once more upon his breast.
+"Robert, you do not know me yet."
+
+And so it was that Christie Bayle joined the hand of the woman he had
+loved to that of the man who had told her she would in future be his
+very own--his property, his slave.
+
+Pretty well all Castor was present, and at the highest pitch of
+excitement, for a handsomer pair, they said, had never stood in the old
+chancel to be made one.
+
+And they were made one.  The register was signed, and then, in the midst
+of a murmuring buzz and rustle of garments that filled the great
+building like the gathering of a storm, Robert Hallam and his fair young
+wife moved down the aisle, towards where a man was waiting to give the
+signal to the ringers to begin; and the crowd had filled every corner
+near the door, and almost blocked the path.  The sun shone out
+brilliantly, and the buzz and rustle grew more and more like the
+gathering of that storm, which burst at last as the young couple reached
+the porch, in a thundering cheer.
+
+Millicent looked flushed, and there was a red spot in Hallam's cheeks as
+he walked out, proud and defiant, towards where the yellow chaise from
+the "George," with four post-horses, was waiting.
+
+The coach had just come in, and the passengers were standing gazing at
+the novel scene.
+
+Again the storm burst in a tremendous cheer as Hallam handed his young
+wife into the chaise, and then there seemed to be another nearing storm,
+sending its harbinger in a fashion which made firm, self-contained
+Robert Hallam turn pale, as a hand was laid upon his arm.
+
+"He said that if anything did go wrong, he should come back," flashed
+through his brain.
+
+Stephen Crellock was bending forward to whisper a few words in his ear.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE THORNY WAY--MILLICENT HALLAM'S HOME.
+
+"How dare you!  Be off!  Go to your mistress.  Don't pester me, woman."
+
+"Didn't know it were pestering you, sir, to ask for my rights.  Two
+years doo, and it's time it was paid."
+
+"Ask your mistress, I tell you.  Here, Julia."
+
+A dark-haired, thoughtful-looking child of about six years old loosened
+her grasp of Thisbe King's dress, and crossed the room slowly towards
+where Robert Hallam sat, newspaper in hand, by his half-finished
+breakfast.
+
+"Here, Julia!" was uttered with no unkindly intent; but the call was
+like a command--an imperious command, such as would be given to a dog.
+
+The child was nearly close to him when he gave the paper a sharp rustle,
+and she sprang back.
+
+"Pish!" he exclaimed, laughing unpleasantly, "what a silly little girl
+you are!  Did you think I was going to strike you?"
+
+"N-no, papa," said the child nervously.
+
+"Then why did you flinch away?  Are you afraid of me?"
+
+The child looked at him intently for a few moments, and then said
+softly:
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Here, Thisbe," said Hallam, frowning, "I'll see to that.  You can go
+now.  Leave Miss Julia here."
+
+"Mayn't I go with Thisbe, papa?" said the child eagerly.
+
+"No; stay with me.  I want to talk to you.  Come here."
+
+The child's countenance fell, and she sidled towards Hallam, looking
+wistfully the while at Thisbe, who left the room reluctantly and closed
+the door.
+
+As soon as they were alone Hallam threw down the paper, and drew the
+child upon his knee, stroking her beautiful, long, dark hair, and held
+his face towards her.
+
+"Well," he said sharply, "haven't you a kiss for papa?"
+
+The child kissed him on both cheeks quickly, and then sat still and
+watched him.
+
+"That's better," he said smiling.  "Little girls always get rewards when
+they are good.  Now I shall buy you a new doll for that."
+
+The child's eyes brightened.
+
+"Have you got plenty of money, papa?" she said quickly.
+
+"Well, I don't know about plenty," he said with a curious laugh, as he
+glanced round the handsomely-furnished room, "but enough for that."
+
+"Will you give me some?"
+
+"Money is not good for little girls," said Hallam, smiling.
+
+"But _I'm_ not little now," said the child quietly.  "Mamma says I'm
+quite a companion to her, and she doesn't know what she would do without
+me."
+
+"Indeed!" said Hallam sarcastically.  "Well, suppose I give you some
+money, what shall you buy--a doll?"
+
+She shook her head.  "I've got five dolls now," she said, counting on
+her little pink fingers, "mamma, papa, Thisbe, and me, and Mr Bayle."
+
+Hallam ground out an ejaculation, making the child start from him in
+alarm.
+
+"Sit still, little one," he said hastily.  "Why, what's the matter?
+Here, what would you do with the money?"
+
+"Give it to mamma to pay Thisbe.  Mamma was crying about wanting some
+money yesterday for grand-mamma."
+
+"Did your grandmother come and ask mamma for money yesterday?"
+
+"Yes; she said grandpapa was so ill and worried that she did not know
+what to do."
+
+Hallam rose from his seat, setting down the child, and began walking
+quickly about the room, while the girl, after watching him for a few
+moments in silence, began to edge her way slowly towards the door, as if
+to escape.
+
+She had nearly reached it when Hallam noticed her, and, catching her by
+the wrist, led her back to his chair, and reseated himself.
+
+"Look here, Julia," he said sharply, "I will not have you behave like
+this.  Does your mother teach you to keep away from me because I seem so
+cross?" he added with a laugh that was not pleasant.
+
+"No," said the child, shaking her head; "she said I was to be very fond
+of you, because you were my dear papa."
+
+"Well, and are you?"
+
+"Yes," said the child, nodding, "I think so;" and she looked wistfully
+in his face.
+
+"That's right; and now be a good girl, and you shall have a pony to
+ride, and everything you like to ask for."
+
+"And money to give to poor mamma?"
+
+"Silence!" cried Hallam harshly, and the child shrank away, and covered
+her face with her hands.  "Don't do that!  Take down your hands.  What
+have you to cry for now?"
+
+The child dropped her hands in a frightened manner, and looked at him
+with her large dark eyes, that seemed to be watching for a blow, her
+face twitching slightly, but there were no tears.
+
+"Any one would think I was a regular brute to the child," he muttered,
+scowling at her involuntarily, and then sitting very thoughtful and
+quiet, holding her on his knee, while he thrust back the breakfast
+things, and tapped the table.  At last, turning to her with a smile,
+"Have a cup of coffee, Julie?" he said.
+
+She shook her head.  "I had my breakfast with mamma ever so long since."
+
+He frowned again, looking uneasily at the child, and resuming the
+tapping upon the table with his thin, white fingers.
+
+The window looking out on the market place was before them, quiet,
+sunny, and with only two people visible, Mrs Pinet, watering her row of
+flowers with a jug, and the half of old Gemp, as he leaned out of his
+doorway, and looked in turn up the street and down.
+
+All at once a firm, quick step was heard, and the child leaped from her
+father's knee.
+
+"Here's Mr Bayle!  Here's Mr Bayle!" she cried, clapping her hands,
+and, bounding to the window, she sprang upon a chair, to press her face
+sidewise to the pane, to watch for him who came, and then to begin
+tapping on the glass, and kissing her hands as Christie Bayle, a firm,
+broad-shouldered man, nodded and smiled, and went by.
+
+Julia leaped from the chair to run out of the room, leaving Robert
+Hallam clutching the edge of the table, with his brow wrinkled, and an
+angry frown upon his countenance, as he ground his teeth together, and
+listened to the opening of the front door, and the mingling of the
+curate's frank, deep voice with the silvery prattle of his child.
+
+"Ha, little one!"  And then there was the sound of kisses, as Hallam
+heard the rustle of what seemed, through the closed door, to be Christie
+Bayle taking the child by the waist and lifting her up to throw her arms
+about his neck.
+
+"You're late!" she cried; and the very tone of her voice seemed changed,
+as she spoke eagerly.
+
+"No, no, five minutes early; and I must go up the town first now."
+
+"Oh!" cried the child.
+
+"I shall not be long.  How is mamma?"
+
+"Mamma isn't well," said the child.  "She has been crying so."
+
+"Hush! hush! my darling!" said Bayle softly.  "You should not whisper
+secrets."
+
+"Is that a secret, Mr Bayle?"
+
+"Yes; mamma's secret, and my Julia must be mamma's well-trusted little
+girl."
+
+"Please, Mr Bayle, I'm so sorry, and I won't do so any more.  Are you
+cross with me?"
+
+"My darling!" he cried passionately, "as if any one could be cross with
+you!  There, get your books ready, and I'll soon be back."
+
+"No, no, not this morning, Mr Bayle; not books.  Take me for a walk,
+and teach me about the flowers."
+
+"After lessons, then.  There, run away."
+
+Hallam rose from his chair, with his lips drawn slightly from his teeth,
+as he heard Bayle's retiring steps.  Then the front door was banged
+loudly; he heard his child clap her hands, and then the quick fall of
+her feet as she skipped across the hall, and bounded up the stairs.
+
+He took a few strides up and down the room, but stopped short as the
+door opened again, and, handsomer than ever, but with a graver, more
+womanly beauty, heightened by a pensive, troubled look in her eyes and
+about the corners of her mouth, Millicent Hallam glided in.
+
+Her face lit up with a smile as she crossed to Hallam, and laid her
+white hand upon his arm.
+
+"Don't think me unkind for going away, dear," she said softly.  "Have
+you quite done?"
+
+"Yes," he said shortly.  "There, don't stop me; I'm late."
+
+"Are you going to the bank, dear?"
+
+"Of course I am.  Where do you suppose I'm going?"
+
+"I only thought, dear, that--"
+
+"Then don't _only think_ for the sake of saying foolish things."
+
+She laid her other hand upon his arm, and smiled in his face.
+
+"Don't let these money matters trouble you so, Robert," she said.  "What
+does it matter whether we are rich or poor?"
+
+"Oh, not in the least!" he cried sarcastically.  "You don't want any
+money, of course?"
+
+"I do, dear, terribly," she said sadly.  "I have been asked a great deal
+lately for payments of bills; and if you could let me have some this
+morning--"
+
+"Then I cannot; it's impossible.  There, wait a few days and the crisis
+will be over, and you can clear off."
+
+"And you will not speculate again, dear?" she said eagerly.
+
+"Oh, no, of course not," he rejoined, with the touch of sarcasm in his
+voice.
+
+"We should be so much happier, dear, on your salary.  I would make it
+plenty for us; and then, Robert, you would be so much more at peace."
+
+"How can I be at peace?" he cried savagely, "when, just as I am harassed
+with monetary cares--which you cannot understand--I find my home,
+instead of a place of rest, a place of torment?"
+
+"Robert!" she said, in a tone of tender reproach.
+
+"People here I don't want to see; servants pestering me for money, when
+I have given you ample for our household expenses; and my own child set
+against me, ready to shrink from me, and look upon me as some domestic
+ogre!"
+
+"Robert, dear, pray do not talk like this."
+
+"I am driven to it," he cried fiercely; "the child detests me!"
+
+"Oh no, no, no," she whispered, placing her arm round his neck.
+
+"And rushes to that fellow Bayle as if she had been taught to look upon
+him as everybody."
+
+"Nay, nay," she said softly; and there was a tender smile upon her lip,
+a look of loving pity in her eye.  "Julie likes Mr Bayle, for he pets
+her, and plays with her as if he were her companion."
+
+"And I am shunned."
+
+"Oh, no, dear, you frighten poor Julie sometimes when you are in one of
+your stern, thoughtful moods."
+
+"My stern, thoughtful moods!  Pshaw!"
+
+"Yes," she said tenderly; "your stern, thoughtful moods.  The child
+cannot understand them as I do, dear husband.  She thinks of sunshine
+and play.  How can she read the depth of the father's love--of the man
+who is so foolishly ambitious to win fortune for his child?  Robert--
+husband--my own, would it not be better to set all these strivings for
+wealth aside, and go back to the simple, peaceful days again?"
+
+"You do not understand these things," he said harshly.  "There, let me
+go.  I ought to have been at the bank an hour ago, but I could not get a
+wink of sleep all the early part of the night."
+
+"I know, dear.  It was three o'clock when you went to sleep."
+
+"How did you know?"
+
+"The clock struck when you dropped off, dear.  I did not speak for fear
+of waking you."
+
+She did not add that she, too, had been kept awake about money matters,
+and wondering whether her husband would consent to live in a more simple
+style in a smaller house.
+
+"There, good-bye," he said, kissing her.  "It is all coming right.
+Don't talk to your father or mother about my affairs."
+
+"Of course I should not, love," she replied; "such things are sacred."
+
+"Yes, of course," he said hastily.  "There, don't take any notice of
+what I have said.  I am worried--very much worried just now, but all
+will come right soon."  He kissed her hastily and hurried away, leaving
+Millicent standing thoughtful and troubled till she heard another step
+on the rough stones, when a calm expression seemed to come over her
+troubled face, but only to be chased away by one more anxious as the
+step halted at the door and the bell rang.
+
+Meanwhile Julia had run upstairs to her own room, where, facing the
+door, five very battered dolls sat in a row upon the drawers, at which
+she dashed full of childish excitement, as if to continue some
+interrupted game.
+
+She stopped short, looked round, and then gave her little foot a stamp.
+
+"How tiresome!" she cried pettishly.  "It's that nasty, tiresome,
+disagreeable old Thibs.  I hate her, that I do, and--"
+
+"Oh, you hate me, do you?" cried the object of her anger appearing in
+the doorway.  "Very well, it don't matter.  I don't mind.  You don't
+care for anybody now but Mr Bayle."
+
+The child rushed across the room to leap up and fling her arms round
+Thisbe's neck, as that oddity stood there, quite unchanged: the same
+obstinate, hard woman who had opposed Mrs Luttrell seven years before.
+
+"Don't, don't, don't say such things, Thibs," cried the child, all
+eagerness and excitement now, the very opposite of the timid, shrinking
+girl in the breakfast-room a short time before; and as she spoke she
+covered the hard face before her with kisses.  "You know, you dear,
+darling old Thibs, I love you.  Oh, I do love you so very, very much."
+
+"I know it's all shim-sham and pea-shucks," said Thisbe, grimly; but,
+without moving her face, rather bending down to meet the kisses.
+
+"No, you don't think anything of the kind, Thibs, and I won't have you
+looking cross at me like papa."
+
+"It's all sham, I tell you," said Thisbe again.  "You never love me only
+when you want anything."
+
+"Oh!  Thibs!" cried the girl with the tears gathering in her eyes; "how
+can you say that?"
+
+"Because I'm a nasty, hard, cankery, ugly, disagreeable old woman," said
+Thisbe, clasping the child to her breast; "and it isn't true, and you're
+my own precious sweet, that you are."
+
+"And you took away my box out of the room, when I had to go down to
+papa."
+
+"But you can't have a nasty, great, dirty candle-box in your bedroom, my
+dear."
+
+"But I want it for a doll's house, and I'm going to line it with paper,
+and--do, Thibs, do, do let me have it, please?"
+
+"Oh, very well, I shall have to be getting the moon for you next.  I
+never see such a spoiled child."
+
+"Make haste then, before Mr Bayle comes, to go on with my lessons.
+Quick! quick! where is it?"
+
+"In the lumber-room, of course.  Where do you suppose it is?"
+
+Thisbe led the way along a broad passage and up three or four stairs to
+an old oak door, which creaked mournfully on its hinges as it was thrown
+back, showing a long, sloped, ceiled room, half filled with
+packing-cases and old fixtures that had been taken down when Hallam
+hired the house, and had it somewhat modernised for their use.
+
+It was a roomy place with a large fireplace that had apparently been
+partially built up to allow of a small grate being set, while walls and
+ceiling were covered with a small patterned paper, a few odd rolls and
+pieces of which lay in a corner.
+
+"I see it," cried Julia excitedly.
+
+"No, no, no; let me get it," cried Thisbe.  "Bless the bairn! why, she's
+like a young goat.  There, now, just see what you've done!"
+
+The child had darted at the hinged deal box, stood up on one end against
+the wall in the angle made by the great projecting fireplace, and in
+dragging it away torn down a large piece of the wall paper.
+
+"Oh, I couldn't help it, Thibs," cried the child panting.  "I am so
+sorry."
+
+"So sorry, indeed!" cried Thisbe; "so sorry, indeed, won't mend walls.
+Why, how wet it is!" she continued, kneeling down and smoothing out the
+paper, and dabbing it back against the end of the great fireplace from
+which it had been torn.  "There's one of them old gutters got stopped up
+and the rain soaks in through the roof, and wets this wall; it ought to
+be seen to at once."
+
+All this while making a ball of her apron, Thisbe, who was the
+perfection of neatness, had been putting back the torn down corner of
+paper, moistening it here and there, and ending by making it stick so
+closely that the tear was only visible on a close inspection.  This done
+she rose and carried the box out, and into the child's bedroom, when
+before the slightest advance had been made towards turning it into a
+doll's house, there was the ring at the door, and Thisbe descended to
+admit the curate, to whom Julia came bounding down.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWO.
+
+MISS HEATHERY'S OFFERING.
+
+Nature, or rather the adaptation from Nature which we call civilisation,
+deals very hardly with unmarried ladies of twenty-five for the next ten
+or a dozen years.  Then it seems to give them up, and we have arrived at
+what is politely known as the uncertain age.  Very uncertain it is, for,
+from thirty-five to forty-five some ladies seem to stand still.
+
+Miss Heathery was one of these, and the mid-life stage seemed to have
+made her evergreen, for seven years' lapse found her much the same,
+scarcely in any manner changed.
+
+Poor Miss Heathery!  For twenty years she had been longing with all the
+intensity of a true woman to become somebody's squaw.  Her heart was an
+urn full of sweetness.  Perhaps it was of rather a sickly cloying kind
+that many men would have turned from with disgust, but it was sweetness
+all the same, and for these long, long years she had been waiting to
+pour this honey of her nature like a blessing upon some one's head,
+while only one man had been ready to say, "Pour on," and held his head
+ready.
+
+That one would-be suitor was old Gemp, and when he said it, poor Miss
+Heathery recoiled, clasping her hands tightly upon the mouth of the urn
+and closing it.  She could not pour it there, and the love of Gemp had
+turned into a bitter hate.
+
+If the curate in his disappointment would only have turned to her, she
+sighed to herself!
+
+"Ah!"
+
+And she went on thinking and working.  What comforting fleecy
+undergarments she could have woven for him!  What ornamental braces he
+should have worn; and, in the sanguine hopes of that swelling urn of
+sweets, she designed--she never began them--a set of slippers, a set of
+seven, all beautifully worked in wool and silks, and lined with velvet.
+Sunday: white with a gold sun; Monday: dominating with a pale lambent
+golden green, for it was moon's day; Tuesday puzzled her, for it took
+her into the Scandinavian mythology, and there she was lost hopelessly
+for a time, but she waded out with an idea that Tuisco was Mars, so the
+slippers should be red.  The Wednesday slippers brought in Mercury, so
+they were silvery.  Thursday was another puzzle till the happy idea came
+of crossing Thor's hammer, which would give the slippers quite a college
+look, black hammers on a red ground.  Friday--Frega, Venus--she would
+work a beauteous woman with golden hair on each.  She felt rather
+doubtful about the woman's face; but love would find out the way.  Then
+there was Saturday.
+
+Just as she reached Saturday, she remembered having once heard that Sir
+Gordon had a set of razors for every day in the week, and the design
+halted.
+
+Ah! if Sir Gordon would only have looked at her with that sad melancholy
+air of tenderness, how happy she could have been!  How she would have
+prompted him to keep on that fight of his against time!  But he never
+smiled upon her; and though she paid in all her little sums of money at
+the bank herself, and changed all her cheques, Mr James Thickens--as he
+was always called, to distinguish him from a Mr Thickens of whom some
+one had once heard somewhere--made no step in advance.  The bank counter
+was always between them, and it was very broad.
+
+"What could she do more to show her affection?" she asked herself.  She
+had petitioned him to give her a "teeny weeny gold-fish, and a teeny
+weeny silver fish," and he had responded at once; but he was close in
+his ways: he was not generous.  He did not purchase a glass globe of
+iridescent tints and goodly form; he borrowed a small milk tin at the
+dairy and sent them in that, with his compliments.
+
+But there were the fish, and she purchased a beautiful globe herself,
+placed three Venus's ear-shells in the bottom, filled it with clear
+water from the river carefully strained through three thicknesses of
+flannel, and there the fish lived till they died.
+
+Why they died so soon may have been from over-petting and too much food.
+For Miss Heathery secretly called the gold-fish James, and the silver
+fish Letitia, her own name, and she was never so happy as when feeding
+James and coaxing him to kiss the tips of her thin little fingers.
+
+Perhaps it was from over-feeding, perhaps from too much salt, for as
+Miss Heathery, after long waiting, had to content herself with the
+chaste salutes of the gold-fish, dissolved pearls distilled from her sad
+eyes, and fell in the water like sporadic drops of rain.
+
+Miss Heathery's spirit was low, and yet it kept leaping up strangely,
+for she had been at the bank one morning to change a cheque, and with
+the full intention of asking Mr James Thickens to present her with a
+couple more fish from the store of which she had heard so much, but
+which she had never seen.
+
+That morning, as she noted how broad the pathway had grown from the
+forehead upwards, and had seen when he turned his back that it expanded
+into a circular walk round a bed of grizzle in the back of his crown,
+and was then continued to the nape, Mr James Thickens seemed to be
+extremely hard and cold.  He looked certainly older too than he used; of
+that she was sure.
+
+He seemed extremely abrupt and impatient with her when she wished him a
+sweet and pensive good-morning, which was as near a blessing upon his
+getting-bald head as the words would allow.
+
+She said afterwards that it was a fine morning, a very fine morning, a
+fact that he did not deny, neither did he acknowledge, and so abstracted
+and strange did he seem that the gold-fish slipped out of her mind, and
+for a few moments she was agitated.  She recovered though, and laying
+down a little bunch of violets beside her reticule, she went through her
+regular routine, received her change, and with a strange feeling of
+exultation at the artfulness of her procedure, she had reached the door
+after a most impressive "good-morning," for Miss Heathery always kept up
+the fiction of dining late, though she partook of her main meal at
+half-past one.
+
+She had reached the door, when James Thickens spoke, his voice, the
+voice of her forlorn hope, thrilling her to the core.  It was not a
+thrilling word, though it had that effect upon her, for it was only a
+summons--an arrest, a check, to her outward progress.
+
+"Hi!"
+
+That was all.  "Hi!" but it did thrill her, and she stopped short with
+bounding pulses.  It was abrupt, but still what of that!  Gentlemen were
+not ladies; and if in their masterful, commanding way, they began their
+courtship by showing that they were the lords of women, why should she
+complain?  He had only to order her to be his wife, and she was ready to
+become more--his very submissive slave.
+
+She stopped, and, after a moment's hesitation, turned at that "Hi!" so
+full of hope to her thirsty soul.  Her eyes were humid with pleasurable
+sensations, and but for that broad mahogany counter, she could have
+thrown herself at his feet.  At that moment she was upon the dazzling
+pinnacle of joy; the next she was mentally sobbing despairingly in the
+vale of sorrow and despair into which she had fallen, for James Thickens
+said coldly:
+
+"Here, you've left something behind."
+
+Her violets!  Her sweet offering that she had laid upon the altar behind
+which her idol always stood.  That bunch was gathered by her own
+fingers, tied up with her own hands, incensed with kisses, made dewy
+with tears.  It was the result of loving and painful thought followed by
+an inventive flash.  It meant an easy confession of her love, and after
+laying it upon the mahogany altar, her sanguine imagination painted
+James Thickens lifting it, kissing it, holding it to his breast,
+searching among the leaves for the note which was not there; and,
+lastly, wearing it home in his button-hole, placing it in water for a
+time, and then keeping it dried yet fragrant in a book of poetry--the
+present of his love.
+
+All that and more she had thought; and now James Thickens had called
+out, "Hi! you've left something behind."
+
+She crept back to the counter, and said, "Thank you, Mr Thickens," in a
+piteous voice, her eyes beneath her veil too much blinded by the
+gathering tears to see Mr Trampleasure passing through the bank, though
+she heard his words, "Good-day, Miss Heathery," and bowed.
+
+It was all over: James Thickens was not a man, he was a rhinoceros with
+an impenetrable hide; and, taking up her bunch of flowers, she was about
+to leave the bank when Thickens spoke again.
+
+"Look here," he said, "I want to talk to you.  Can't you ask me to tea?"
+
+The place seemed to spin round, and the mahogany counter to heave and
+fall like a wave, as she tried to speak but could not for a few moments.
+Then she mastered her emotion, and in a hurried, trembling,
+half-hysterical voice, she chirped out:
+
+"Yes; this evening, Mr Thickens, at six."
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER THREE.
+
+JAMES THICKENS TAKES TEA.
+
+"Rum little woman," said Thickens to himself as he hurried out of the
+bank.  "Wonder whether she'd like another couple of fish."
+
+Some men would have gone home to smarten up before visiting a lady to
+take tea, but James Thickens was not of that sort.  His idea of
+smartness was always to look like a clean, dry, drab leaf, and he was
+invariably, whenever seen, at that point of perfection.
+
+Punctually at six o'clock he rapped boldly at Miss Heathery's door,
+turning round to stare hard at Gemp, who came out eagerly to look and
+learn, before going in to have a fit--of temper, and then moving round
+to stare at Mrs Pinet's putty nose, rather a large one when flattened
+against the pane, as she strained to get a glimpse of such an unusual
+proceeding.
+
+Several other neighbours had a look, and then the green door was opened.
+The visitor passed in and was ushered into the neat little parlour
+where the tea was spread, and Miss Heathery welcomed him, trembling with
+gentle emotion, and admiring the firmness, under such circumstances, of
+the animal man.
+
+It was a delicious tea.  There were Sally Lunns and toast biliously
+brimming in butter.  Six spoonfuls of the best Bohea and Young Hyson
+were in the china pot.  There was a new cottage loaf and a large pat of
+butter, with a raised cow grazing on a forest of parsley.  There were
+thin slices of ham, and there were two glass dishes of preserve equal to
+that of which Mrs Luttrell was so proud; and then there was a cake from
+Frampton's at the corner, where they sold the Sally Lunns.
+
+"I don't often get a tea like this, Miss Heathery," said Thickens, who
+was busy with his red and yellow bandanna handkerchief spread over his
+drab lap.
+
+"I hope you are enjoying it," she said sweetly.
+
+"Never enjoyed one more.  Another cup, if you please, and I'll take a
+little more of that ham."
+
+It was not a little that he took, and that qualifying adjective is of no
+value in describing the toast and Sally Lunns that he ate solidly and
+seriously, as if it were his duty to do justice to the meal.
+
+And all the while poor Miss Heathery was only playing with her tea-cup
+and saucer.  The only food of which she could partake was mental, and as
+she sat there dispensing her dainties and blushing with pleasure, she
+kept on thinking in a flutter of delight that all the neighbours would
+know Mr Thickens was taking tea with her, and be talking about this
+wicked, daring escapade on the part of a single lady.
+
+He had not smiled, but he had seemed to be _so_ contented, _so_ happy,
+and he had asked her whether she worked that framed sampler on the wall,
+and the black cat with gold-thread eyes, and the embroidered cushion.
+
+He had asked her if she liked poetry, and how long one of those
+rice-paper flowers took her to paint.  He had admired, too, her poonah
+painting, and had at last sat back in his chair with one drab leg
+crossed over the other, and looking delightfully at home.
+
+Still he didn't seem disposed to come to the point, and in the depth and
+subtlety of her cunning, Miss Heathery thought she would help him by
+leading the conversation towards matrimony.
+
+"Dr and Mrs Luttrell seem to age very much," she said softly.
+
+"Ah! they do," said Thickens tightening his lips and making a furrow
+across the lower part of his face.  "Yes: trouble, ma'am, trouble."
+
+"But they are a sweet couple, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Models, madam, models," said the visitor, who became very thoughtful,
+and made a noise that sounded like "Soop!" as there was a pause, during
+which Mr Thickens took some tea.
+
+"Have you seen Sir Gordon lately?" said Miss Heathery at last.
+
+"No, madam.  Back soon, though, I hope."
+
+"Ah!" sighed Miss Heathery, "do you think he will ever--ahem! marry
+now?"
+
+"Never, ma'am," said Thickens emphatically.  "Too old."
+
+"Oh, no, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Oh, yes, Miss Heathery."
+
+There was another pause.
+
+"How beautiful Mrs Hallam grows!  So pale, and sweet, and grave.  She
+looks to me always, Mr Thickens, like some lovely lily.  Dear
+Millicent, it seems only yesterday that she was married."
+
+Thickens started and moved uneasily, sending a pang that must have had a
+jealous birth through Miss Heathery's breast.
+
+"Seven years ago, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Six years, eleven months, two weeks, ma'am."
+
+"Ah, how exact you are, Mr Thickens!"
+
+"Obliged to be, ma'am.  Interest to calculate."
+
+"But she looks thin, and not so happy as I could wish."
+
+"Yes, ma'am.  No, ma'am," said Thickens, paradoxically.
+
+Again there was an uneasy change, for Mr Thickens's brow was puckered,
+and a couple of ridgy wrinkles ran across the top of his head.
+
+"And they make such a handsome pair."
+
+Thickens nodded and frowned, but became placid the next moment as his
+hostess said softly:
+
+"That sweet child!"
+
+"Hah!  Yes!  Bless her!--Hah!  Yes!  Bless her!--Hah!  Yes!  Bless her!"
+
+Miss Heathery stared, for her guest fired these ejaculations and
+benedictions at intervals in a quick, eager way, smiling the while, and
+with his eyes brightening.
+
+She stared more the next minute, and trembled as she heard her visitor's
+next utterance, and thought of a visit of his seven years ago when she
+was out, and which he had explained by saying that he had come to ask
+her if she would like a pair of gold-fish, that was all.
+
+For all at once Mr Thickens exclaimed with his eyes glittering:
+
+"If I had married I should have liked to have had a little girl like
+that."
+
+There was a terrible pause here, terrible to only one though: and then,
+in a hesitating voice, Miss Heathery went on, with that word "marriage"
+buzzing in her ears, and making her feel giddy.
+
+"Do you--do you think it's true, Mr Thickens?"
+
+"What, that I never married?" he said sharply.
+
+"No, no; oh, dear me, no!" cried Miss Heathery; "I mean that poor Mrs
+Hallam is terribly troubled about money matters, and that they are very
+much in debt?"
+
+"Don't know, ma'am; can't say, ma'am; not my business, ma'am."
+
+"But they say the doctor is terribly pinched for money too."
+
+"Very likely, ma'am.  Every one is sometimes."
+
+"How dreadful!" exclaimed Miss Heathery.
+
+"Very, ma'am.  No: nothing more, thank you.  Get these things taken
+away, I want to talk to you."
+
+As the repast was cleared away, Miss Heathery felt that it was coming
+now, and as she grew more flushed, her head with its curls and great
+tortoise-shell comb trembled like a flower on its stalk.  She got out
+her work, growing more and more agitated, but noticing that Thickens
+grew more cold and self-possessed.
+
+"The way of a great man," she thought to herself as she felt that she
+had led up to what was coming, and that she had never before been so
+wicked and daring in the whole course of her life.
+
+"It was the violets," she said to herself; and then she started,
+trembled more than ever, and felt quite faint, for James Thickens drew
+his chair a little nearer, spread his handkerchief carefully across his
+drab legs, and said suddenly:
+
+"Now then, let's to business."
+
+Business?  Well yes, it was the great business of life, thought Miss
+Heathery, as she held her hands to her heart, ready to pour out the long
+pent-up sweetness with which it was charged.
+
+"Look here, Miss Heathery," he went on, "I always liked you."
+
+"Oh!  Mr Thickens," she sighed, but she could not "look here" at the
+visitor, who was playing dumb tunes upon the red and lavender check
+table-cover, as if it were a harpsichord.
+
+"I've always thought you were an extremely good little woman."
+
+"At last," said Miss Heathery to herself.
+
+"You've got a nice little bit of money in our bank, and also the deeds
+of this house."
+
+"Don't--don't talk about money, Mr Thickens, please."
+
+"Must," he said abruptly.  "I'm a money man.  Now look here, you live on
+your little income we have in the bank."
+
+"Yes, Mr Thickens," sighed the lady.
+
+"Ah! yes, of course.  Then look here.  Dinham's two houses are for sale
+next week."
+
+"Yes; I saw the bill," she sighed.
+
+"Let me buy them for you."
+
+"Buy them?  They would cost too much, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Not they.  You've got nearly enough, and the rest could stay on.  They
+always let; dare say you could keep on the present tenants."
+
+"But--"
+
+That "but" meant that she would not have those excuses for going to the
+bank.
+
+"You'll get good interest for your money then, ma'am, and you get little
+now."
+
+"But, Mr Thickens--"
+
+"I wish you to do it, ma'am, and I hope that you will."
+
+"Oh! if you wish it, Mr Thickens, of course I will," she said eagerly.
+
+"That's right; I do wish it.  May I buy them for you?"
+
+"Oh, certainly, Mr Thickens."
+
+"All right, ma'am, then I will.  Now I must get home and feed my fishes.
+Good evening."
+
+He caught up his hat, shook hands, and was gone before his hostess had
+recovered from her surprise and chagrin.
+
+"But never mind," she said, rubbing her hands and making two rings
+click.
+
+The contact of those two rings made her gaze down and then take and
+fondle one particular finger, while, in spite of the abruptness of her
+visitor, she gazed down dreamily at that finger, and sighed as she sank
+into a reverie full of golden dreams.
+
+"So odd and peculiar," she sighed; "but so different to any one else I
+ever knew; and, ah me! how shocking it all is: so many people must have
+seen him come."
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+DR LUTTRELL'S TROUBLES.
+
+Dr Luttrell had taken a rake, and gone down the garden, according to
+his custom, and, as soon as he had left the house, Mrs Luttrell went to
+the window and watched him; after which, with a sorrowful face, she
+walked back into the drawing-room, to sit down and weep silently for a
+few minutes.
+
+"It breaks my heart to see her poor sad face, and it's breaking his,
+though he's always laughing it off, and telling me it's all my nonsense.
+Oh, dear me! oh, dear me!  How is it all to end?"
+
+She sat rocking herself to and fro for a few minutes, and then jumped up
+hastily.
+
+"It's dreadful, that it is!" she sighed; "but I can't stop here alone.
+Yes!  I thought so!" she cried, as she went to the window, where she
+could catch sight of the doctor, rake in hand, but not using it,
+according to his wont, for he was resting upon it, and thinking deeply.
+
+Mrs Luttrell snatched at a great grey ball of worsted and her needles,
+and went down the garden, making the doctor start as she reached his
+side.
+
+"Eh?  What is it?" he exclaimed.  "Anything wrong at the Manor?"
+
+"Wrong! what nonsense, dear!" said the old lady cheerily.  "I'm sure,
+Joseph, you ought to take some medicine.  You grow quite nervous!"
+
+"What made you come, then?" he cried, beginning to use his rake busily.
+
+"Why, I thought I'd come and chat while you worked, and--Joseph, my
+dear, don't--don't look like that!"
+
+"It's of no use, old girl," said the doctor with a sigh; "we may just as
+well look it boldly in the face.  I'm sick of all this make-believe."
+
+"And so am I, dear.  Let us be open."
+
+"Ah, well!  I will.  Who is a man to be open to if not to his old wife?"
+
+"There!" sobbed Mrs Luttrell, making a brave effort over herself, and
+speaking cheerfully.  "I'm ready to face everything now."
+
+"Even poverty, my dear?"
+
+"Even poverty!  What does it matter to us?  Is it so very bad, dear?"
+
+"It could not be worse.  We must give up this house, and sell
+everything."
+
+"But Hallam?"
+
+"Is a scoundrel!--no, no!  I won't say that of my child's husband.  But
+I cannot get a shilling of him; and when I saw him yesterday, and
+threatened to go to Sir Gordon--"
+
+"Well, dear?"
+
+"He told me to go if I dared."
+
+"And did you go?"
+
+"Did I go, mother?  Did I go?--with poor Milly's white face before my
+eyes, to denounce her husband as a cheat and a rogue!  He has had every
+penny I possessed for his speculations, and they seem all to have
+failed."
+
+"But you shouldn't have let him have it, dear!"
+
+"Not let him have it, wife!  How could I refuse my own son-in-law?
+Well, there, our savings are gone, and we must eat humble pie for the
+future.  I have not much practice now, and I don't think my few patients
+will leave me because I live in a cottage."
+
+"Do you think if I went and spoke to Robert it would do any good?"
+
+"It would make our poor darling miserable.  She would be sure to know.
+As it is, she believes her husband to be one of the best of men.  Am I,
+her father, to be the one who destroys that faith?  Hush, here is some
+one coming!"
+
+For there was a quick, heavy step upon the gravel walk, and Christie
+Bayle appeared.
+
+"I thought I should find you," he said, shaking hands warmly.  "Well,
+doctor, how's the garden?  Why, Mrs Luttrell, what black currants!
+There! you may call me exacting, but tithe, ma'am, tithe--I put in my
+claim at once for two pots of black currant jam.  Those you gave me last
+year were invaluable."
+
+Mrs Luttrell held his hand still, and laughed gently.
+
+"Little bits of flattery for a very foolish old woman, my dear."
+
+"Flattery! when I had such sore throats I could hardly speak, and yet
+had to preach!  Not much flattery, eh, doctor?"
+
+"Flattery!  No, no," said the doctor, dreamily.
+
+He glanced at Mrs Luttrell, then at Bayle, who went on chatting
+pleasantly about the garden, and then checked him suddenly.
+
+"No one can hear us, Bayle.  We want to talk to you--my wife and I."
+
+"Certainly," said Bayle; and his tone and manner changed.  "Is it
+anything I can do for you?"
+
+"Wait a moment--let me think," said the doctor sadly.  "Here, let's go
+and sit down under the yew hedge."
+
+Bayle drew Mrs Luttrell's hand through his arm, and patted it gently,
+as she looked up tenderly in his face, a tenderness mingled with pride,
+as if she had part and parcel in the sturdy, manly Englishman who led
+her to the pleasant old rustic seat in a nook of the great, green,
+closely-clipped wall, with its glorious prospect away over the fair
+country side.
+
+"I do love this old spot!" said Bayle, enthusiastically, for a glance at
+the doctor showed that he was nervous and hesitating, and he thought it
+well to give him time.  "Mrs Luttrell, it is one of my sins that I
+cannot master envy.  I always long for this old place and garden."
+
+"Bayle!" cried the doctor, laying his hand upon the curate's knee, and
+with his former hesitancy chased away by an eager look, "are you in
+earnest?"
+
+"In earnest, my dear sir?  What about?"
+
+"About--about the old place--the garden."
+
+"Earnest!--yes.  But I am going to fight it down," cried Bayle,
+laughing.
+
+"Don't laugh, man.  I am serious--things are serious with me."
+
+"I was afraid so; but I dared not ask you.  Come, come, Mrs Luttrell,"
+he continued gently, "don't take it to heart.  Troubles come to us all,
+and when they do there is their pleasant side, for then we learn the
+value of our friends, and I hope I am one."
+
+"Friend, my dear!" said Mrs Luttrell, weeping gently, "I'm sure you
+have always seemed to me like a soil.  Do: pray do, Joseph, tell him
+all."
+
+"Be patient, wife, and I will--all that I can."
+
+The doctor paused and cleared his throat, while Mrs Luttrell sat with
+her hand in the curate's.
+
+"You have set me thinking," said the doctor at last; "and what you said
+is like a ray of sunshine in my trouble."
+
+"He's always saying things that are like rays of sunshine to us in our
+trouble, Joseph," said Mrs Luttrell, looking up through her tears at
+the earnest countenance at her side.
+
+"Bayle, I shall have to lose the old place--the wife's old home, of
+which she is so proud--and my old garden.  It's a bitter blow at my time
+of life, but it must come."
+
+"I was afraid there was something very wrong," said Bayle; "but suppose
+we look the difficulties in the face.  I'm a bit of a lawyer, you know,
+my dear doctor.  Let's see what can be done.  I want to be delicate in
+my offer, but I must be blunt.  I am not a poor man, my wants are very
+simple, and I spend so little--let me clear this difficulty away.
+There, we will not bother Mrs Luttrell about money matters.  Consider
+it settled."
+
+"No," said the doctor firmly, "that will not do.  I appreciate it all,
+my dear boy, truly; but there is only one way out of this difficulty--
+the old place must be sold."
+
+"Oh, Joseph, Joseph!" sighed Mrs Luttrell, and the tears fell fast.
+
+"It must be, wife," said the doctor firmly.  "Bayle, after what you
+said, will you buy the old home?  I could bear it better if it fell into
+your hands."
+
+"Are you sure it must be sold?"
+
+"There is no other way out of the difficulty, Bayle.  Will you buy it?"
+
+"If you tell me that there is certainly no other way out of the
+difficulty, and that it is your wish and Mrs Luttrell's, I will buy the
+place."
+
+"Just as it stands--furniture--everything?"
+
+"Just as it stands--furniture--everything."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated the doctor with a sigh of relief.  "Thank God, Bayle!"
+he cried, shaking the curate's hand energetically.  "I have not felt so
+much at rest for months.  Now I want, you to tell me a little about the
+town--about the people.  What do they say?"
+
+"Say?"
+
+"Yes: say about us--about Hallam--about Millicent, about our darling?"
+
+"My dear doctor, I shall have to go and fetch old Gemp.  He will point
+at game, and tell you more in half-an-hour than I shall be able to tell
+you in a year.  Had we not better change the conversation?--here is Mrs
+Hallam with Julia."
+
+As he spoke the garden gate clicked, and Millicent came into sight, with
+her child, the one grave and sad, the other all bright-eyed eagerness
+and excitement.
+
+"There they are, mamma--in the yew seat!"  And the child raced across
+the lawn, bounded over a flowerbed, and leaped upon the doctor's knee.
+
+"Dear old grandpa!" she cried, throwing her arms round his neck and
+kissing him effusively, but only to leap down and climb on Mrs
+Luttrell's lap, clasping her neck, and laying her charming little face
+against the old lady's cheek.  "Dear, sweet old grandma!" she cried.
+
+Then, in all the excitement of her young life, she was down again to
+seize Bayle's hand.
+
+"Come and get some fruit and flowers.  We may, mayn't we, grandpa?"
+
+"I'm sure we may," said Bayle, laughing, "only I must go."
+
+"Oh!" cried the child pouting, "don't go, Mr Bayle!  I do like being in
+the garden with you so very, very much!"
+
+Mrs Hallam turned her sweet, grave face to him.
+
+"Can you give her a few minutes?  Julie will be so disappointed."
+
+"There," cried Bayle merrily, "you see, doctor, what a little tyrant she
+grows!  She makes every one her slave!"
+
+"I don't!" said the child, pouting.  "Mamma always says a run in the
+garden does me so much good, and it will do Mr Bayle good too.  Thibs
+says he works too hard."
+
+"Come along, then," he cried laughing; and the man seemed transformed,
+running off with the child to get a basket, while Millicent gazed after
+them, her countenance looking brighter, and the old people seemed to
+have forgotten their troubles, as they gazed smilingly after the pair.
+
+"Bless her!" said Mrs Luttrell, swaying herself softly to and fro, and
+passing her hands along her knees.
+
+"Yes, that's the way, Milly.  Give her plenty of fresh air, and laugh at
+me and my tribe."
+
+Then quite an eager conversation ensued, Mrs Hallam brightening up; and
+on both sides every allusion to trouble was, by a pious kind of
+deception, kept out of sight, Millicent Hallam being in the fond belief
+that her parents did not even suspect that she was not thoroughly happy,
+while they were right in thinking that their child was ignorant of the
+straits to which they had been brought.
+
+"Why, we are quite gay this morning!" cried Mrs Luttrell; "or, no:
+perhaps he comes as a patient, he looks so serious.  Ah, Sir Gordon, it
+is quite an age since you were here?"
+
+"Yes, madam; I'm growing old and gouty, and--your servant, Mrs Hallam,"
+he said, raising his hat.  "Doctor, I wish I had your health.  Ah, how
+peaceful and pleasant this garden looks!  They told me--old Gemp told
+me--that I should find Bayle here.  I called at his lodgings--bless my
+soul! how can a man with his income live in such a simple way!  The
+woman said he was out visiting, and that old scoundrel said he was here.
+Egad!  I believe the fellow lies in wait to hear everything.  Eh?  Ah,
+I'm right, I see!"
+
+Just then there was a silvery burst of childish laughter, followed by a
+deep voice shouting, "Stop thief! stop thief!"  Then there was a
+scampering of feet, and Julia came racing along, with her dark curls
+flying, and Christie Bayle in full pursuit, right up to the group by the
+yew hedge.
+
+"She ran off with the basket!" cried Bayle.  "Did you ever see--Ah, Sir
+Gordon!" he cried, holding out a currant-stained hand.
+
+"Humph!" cried Sir Gordon grimly, raising his glass to his eye, and
+looking at the big, brown, fruit-stained fingers; "mighty clerical, 'pon
+my honour, sir!  Who do you think is coming to listen to a parson on
+Sundays who spends his weeks racing about gardens after little girls?
+No, I'm not going to spoil my gloves; they're new."
+
+"I--I don't think you ought to speak to--to Mr Bayle like that, Sir
+Gordon!" cried Mrs Luttrell, flushing and ruffling up like a hen.  "If
+you only knew him as we do--"
+
+"Oh, hush, mamma dear!" said Mrs Hallam, smiling tenderly, and laying
+her hand upon her mother's arm.
+
+"Yes, my dear; but I cannot sit still and--"
+
+"Know him, ma'am!" said Sir Gordon sharply.  "Oh, I know him by heart;
+read him through and through!  He was never meant for a parson; he's too
+rough!"
+
+"Really, Sir Gordon, I--"
+
+"Don't defend me, Mrs Luttrell," said Bayle merrily.  "Sir Gordon
+doesn't like me, and he makes this excuse for not coming to hear me
+preach."
+
+"Well, little dark eyes!" cried Sir Gordon, taking Julia's hand, and
+leading her to the seat.  "Ah, that's better!  I do get tired so soon,
+doctor.  Well, little dark eyes!" he continued, after seating himself,
+and drawing the child between his knees, after which he drew a clean,
+highly-scented, cambric handkerchief from his breast pocket, and leaned
+forward.  "Open your mouth, little one," he said.
+
+Julia obeyed, parting her scarlet lips.
+
+"Now put out your tongue."
+
+"Is grandpa teaching you to be a doctor?" said the child innocently.
+
+"No; but I wish he would, my dear," said Sir Gordon, "so that I could
+doctor one patient--myself.  Out with your tongue."
+
+The child obeyed, and the baronet gravely moistened his handkerchief
+thereon, and, taking the soft little chin in one gloved hand, carefully
+removed a tiny purple fruit-stain.
+
+"That's better.  Now you are fit to kiss."  He bent down, and kissed the
+child slowly.  "Don't like me much, do you, Julia?"
+
+"I don't know," said the child, looking up at him with her large serious
+eyes.  "Sometimes I do, when you don't talk crossly to me; but sometimes
+I don't.  I don't like you half so well as I do Mr Bayle."
+
+"But he's always setting you hard lessons, and puzzling your brains,
+isn't he?"
+
+"No," said the child, shaking her head.  "Oh, no! we have such fun over
+my lessons every morning!  But I do like you too--a little."
+
+"Come, that's a comfort!" said Sir Gordon, rising again.  "There, I must
+go.  I want to carry off Mr Bayle--on business."
+
+Mrs Hallam glanced sharply from one to the other, and then, to conceal
+her agitation, bent down over her child, and began to smooth her tangled
+curls.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+SIR GORDON BOURNE ASKS QUESTIONS.
+
+"I want a few words with you, Bayle," said Sir Gordon, as the pair
+walked back towards the town.
+
+"Shall we talk here, or will you come to my rooms?" and he indicated
+Mrs Pinet's house, to which he had moved when Hallam married.
+
+"Your rooms!  No, man; I never feel as if I can breathe in your stuffy
+lodgings.  How can you exist in them?"
+
+"I do, and very happily," said Bayle, laughing.  "Shall we go to your
+private room at the bank?"
+
+"Bless my soul! no, man!" cried Sir Gordon hastily.  "The very last
+place.  Let's get out in the fields, and talk there.  More room, and no
+tattling, inquisitive people about.  No Gemps."
+
+"Very good," said Bayle, wondering, and very anxious at heart, for he
+knew the baronet's proclivities.
+
+They turned off on to one of the footpaths, chatting upon indifferent
+matters, till all at once Sir Gordon exclaimed:
+
+"'Pon my honour, I don't think I like you, Bayle."
+
+"I'm very sorry, Sir Gordon, because I really do like you.  I've always
+found you a true gentleman at heart, and--"
+
+"Stuff, sir!  Silence, sir!  Egad, sir, will you hold your tongue?
+Talking such nonsense to a confirmed valetudinarian with a soured life,
+and--pish!  I don't want to talk about myself.  I was going to say that
+I did not like you."
+
+"You did say so," replied the curate, smiling.
+
+"Ah! well, it's the truth.  Why do you stop here?"
+
+"To annoy you, perhaps," said Bayle laughing.  "Well, no: I like my
+people, and I'm vain enough to think I am able to do a little good."
+
+"You do, Bayle, you do," said Sir Gordon, taking his arm and leaning
+upon him in a confidential way.  "You're a good fellow, Bayle; and
+Castor here would miss you horribly, if you left."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!"
+
+"It is not nonsense, sir.  Why, you do more good among the people in one
+year than I have done in all my life."
+
+"Well, I think I have amerced you pretty well lately for my poor, Sir
+Gordon."
+
+"Yes, man, but it was your doing.  I shouldn't have given a shilling.
+But look here, I was going to say, why is it that I come to you, and
+make such a confidant of you?"
+
+"Do you wish to confide something to me now?"
+
+"Yes, of course; one can't go to one's solicitor, and I've no friends.
+Plenty of club acquaintances: but no friends.  There, don't shake your
+head like that, man.  Well, only a few.  By-the-way, charming little
+girl that."
+
+"What, little Julie?" cried Bayle, with his cheeks flushing with
+pleasure.
+
+"Yes; and your prime favourite, I see.  I don't like her, though.  Too
+much of her father."
+
+"She has his eyes and hair," said Bayle thoughtfully; "but there is the
+sweet grave look in her face that her mother used to wear when I first
+came to Castor."
+
+"Hush!  Silence!  Hold your tongue!" cried Sir Gordon impatiently.
+"Look here--her father--I want to talk about him."
+
+"About Mr Hallam?"
+
+"Yes.  What do you think of him now?"
+
+Bayle laid his hand upon Sir Gordon's.
+
+"We are old friends, Sir Gordon; I know your little secret; you know
+mine.  Don't ask me that question."
+
+"As a very old trusty friend I do ask you.  Bayle, it is a duty.  Look
+here, man; I hold an important trust in connection with that bank.  I'm
+afraid I have not done my duty.  It is irksome to me, a wealthy man, and
+I am so much away yachting.  Let me see; you never have had dealings
+with us."
+
+"No, Sir Gordon, never."
+
+"Well, as I was saying, I am so much away.  You are always feeling the
+pulses of the people.  Now, as you are a great deal at Hallam's, tell me
+as a friend in a peculiar position, what do you think of Hallam?"
+
+"Do you mean as a friend?"
+
+"I mean as a business man, as our manager.  What do the people say?"
+
+"I cannot retail to you all their little tattle, Sir Gordon.  Look here,
+sir, what do you mean?  Speak out."
+
+Sir Gordon grew red and was silent for a few minutes.
+
+"I will be plain, Bayle," he said at last.  "The fact is I am very
+uneasy."
+
+"About Hallam?"
+
+"Yes.  He occupies a position of great trust."
+
+"But surely Mr Trampleasure shares it."
+
+"Trampleasure shares nothing.  He's a mere dummy: a bank ornament.
+There, I don't say I suspect Hallam, but I cannot help seeing that he is
+living far beyond his means."
+
+"But you have the books--the statements?"
+
+"Yes; and everything is perfectly correct.  I do know something about
+figures, and at our last audit there was not a penny wrong."
+
+Bayle drew a breath full of relief.
+
+"Every security, every deed was in its place, and the bank was never in
+a more prosperous state."
+
+"Then of what do you complain?"
+
+"That is what I do not know.  All I know, Bayle, is that I am uneasy,
+and dissatisfied about him.  Can you help me?"
+
+"How can I help you?"
+
+"Can you tell me something to set my mind at rest, and make me think
+that Hallam is a strictly honourable man, so that I can go off again
+yachting.  I cannot exist away from the sea."
+
+"I am afraid I can tell you nothing, Sir Gordon."
+
+"Not from friend to friend?"
+
+"I am the trusted friend of the Hallams'.  I am free of their house.
+They have entrusted a great deal of the education of their child to me!"
+
+"Well, tell me this.  You know the people.  What do they say of Hallam
+in the town?"
+
+"I have never heard an unkind word respecting him unless from
+disappointed people, to whom, I suppose from want of confidence in their
+securities, he has refused loans."
+
+"That's praising him," said Sir Gordon.  "Do the people seem to trust
+him?"
+
+"Oh! certainly."
+
+"More praise.  But do they approve of his way of living?  Hasn't he a
+lot of debts in the town?"
+
+Bayle was silent.
+
+"Ah! that pinches.  Well, now does not that seem strange?"
+
+"I know nothing whatever of Mr Hallam's private affairs.  He may
+perhaps have lost his own money, and his indebtedness be due to his
+endeavours to recoup himself."
+
+"Yes," said Sir Gordon, dryly.  "What a lovely day!"
+
+"It is delightful," said the curate, with a sigh of relief, as they
+turned back.
+
+"I was going to start to-morrow for a run up the Norway fiords."
+
+"Indeed; so soon?"
+
+"Yes," said Sir Gordon, dryly; "but I am not going now."
+
+They parted at the entrance of the town, and directly after the curate
+became aware of the fact that old Gemp was looking at him very intently.
+
+He forgot it the next moment as he entered his room, to be followed
+directly after by his landlady, who drew his attention to a note upon
+the chimney-piece in Thickens's formal, clerkly hand.
+
+"One of the school children brought this, sir; and, begging your
+pardon," cried the woman, colouring indignantly, "if it isn't making too
+bold to ask such a thing of you, sir, don't you think you might say a
+few words next Sunday about Poll-prying, and asking questions?"
+
+"Really," said Bayle, smiling; "I'm afraid it would be very much out of
+place, Mrs Pinet."
+
+"Well, I'm sorry you say so, sir, for the way that Gemp goes on gets to
+be beyond bearing.  He actually stopped that child, took the letter from
+him, read the direction, and then asked the boy who it was from, and
+whether he was to wait for an answer."
+
+"Never mind, Mrs Pinet; it is very complimentary of Mr Gemp to take so
+much interest in my affairs."
+
+"It made me feel quite popped, sir," cried the woman; "but of course it
+be no business of mine."
+
+Bayle read the letter, and changed colour, as he connected it with Sir
+Gordon's questions, for it was a request that the curate would come up
+and see Thickens that evening on very particular business.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SIX.
+
+JAMES THICKENS MAKES A COMMUNICATION.
+
+"Master's in the garden feeding his fish," said the girl, as she
+admitted Bayle.  "I'll go and tell him you're here, sir."
+
+"No; let me go to him," said Bayle quietly.
+
+The girl led the way down a red-bricked floored passage, and opened a
+door, through which the visitor passed, and then stood looking at the
+scene before him.
+
+There was not much garden, but James Thickens was proud of it, because
+it was his own.  It was only a strip, divided into two beds by a narrow
+walk of red bricks--so many laid flat with others set on edge to keep
+the earth from falling over, and sullying the well-scrubbed path, which
+was so arranged by its master that the spigot of the rain-water butt
+could be turned on now and then and a birch broom brought into
+requisition to keep all clean.
+
+Each bed was a mass of roses--dwarf roses that crept along the ground by
+the path, and then others that grew taller till the red brick wall on
+either side was reached, and this was clambered, surmounted, and almost
+completely hidden by clusters of small blossoms.  No other flower grew
+in this patch of a garden; but, save in the very inclement weather,
+there were always buds and blossoms to be picked, and James Thickens was
+content.
+
+From where Bayle stood he could just see Thickens at the hither side of
+the great bricked and cemented tank that extended across the bottom of
+his and the two adjoining gardens, while beyond was the steam-mill,
+where Mawson the miller had introduced that great power to work his
+machinery.  He it was who had contrived the tank for some scheme in
+connection with the mill, and had then made some other plan after
+leading into it through a pipe the clear water of the dam on the other
+side of the mill, and arranging a proper exit when it should be too
+full.  Then he had given it up as unnecessary, merely turning into it a
+steam-pipe, to get rid of the waste, and finally had let it to Thickens
+for his whim.
+
+There was a certain prettiness about the place seen from the bank
+clerk's rose garden.  Facing you was the quaintly-built mill, one mass
+of ivy from that point of view, while numberless strands ran riot along
+the stone edge of the tank, and hung down to kiss the water with their
+tips.  To the left there was the great elder clump, that was a mass of
+creamy bloom in summer, and of clustering black berries in autumn, till
+the birds had cleared all off.
+
+As Bayle stood looking down, he could see the bank clerk upon his knees,
+bending over the edge of the pool, and holding his fingers in the water.
+
+Every now and then he took a few crumbs of broken well-boiled rice from
+a basin at his side, and scattered them over the pool, while, when he
+had done this, he held the tips of his fingers in the water.
+
+He was so intent upon his task, that he did not hear the visitor's
+approach, so that when Bayle was close up, he could see the limpid water
+glowing with the bright scales of the golden-orange fish that were
+feeding eagerly in the soft evening light.  Now quite a score of the
+brilliant metallic creatures would be making at the crumbs of rice.
+Then there would be as many--quite a little shoal--that were of a soft
+pearly silver, while mingled with them were others that seemed laced
+with sable velvet or purple bands.
+
+The secret of the hand-dipping was plain too, for, as Thickens softly
+placed his fingers to the surface, first one and then another would swim
+up and seem to kiss the ends, taking therefrom some snack of rice, to
+dart away directly with a flourish of the tail which set the water all a
+ripple, and made it flash in the evening light.
+
+Thickens was talking to his pets, calling them by many an endearing name
+as they swam up, kissed his finger tips, and darted away, till, becoming
+conscious of the presence of some one in the garden, he started to his
+feet, but stooped quickly again to pick up the basin, dip a little
+water, rinse out the vessel, and throw its contents far and wide.
+
+"I did not hear you come, Mr Bayle," he said hastily.
+
+"I ought to have spoken," replied the curate gravely.  "How tame your
+fishes are!"
+
+"Yes, sir, yes.  They've got to know people from being petted so.  Dip
+your fingers in the water and they'll come."
+
+The visitor bent down and followed the example he had seen, with the
+result that fish after fish swam up, touched a white finger tip with its
+soft wet mouth, and then darted off.
+
+"Strange pets, Mr Thickens, are they not?"
+
+"Yes, sir, yes.  But I like them," said Thickens with a droll sidewise
+look at his visitor.  "You see the water's always gently warmed from the
+mill there, and that makes them thrive.  They put one in mind of gold
+and silver, sir, and the bank.  And they're nice companions: they don't
+talk."
+
+He seemed then to have remembered something.  A curious rigidity came
+over him, and though his visitor was disposed to linger by the pool
+where, in the evening light, the brightly-coloured fish glowed like
+dropped flakes of the sunset, Thickens drew back for him to pass, and
+then almost backed him into the house.
+
+"Sit down, please, Mr Bayle," he said, rather huskily; and he placed a
+chair for his visitor.  "You got my note, then?"
+
+"Yes, and I came on.  You want my--"
+
+"Help and advice, sir; that's it.  I'm in a cleft stick, sir--fast."
+
+"I am sorry," said Bayle earnestly, for Thickens paused.  "Is it
+anything serious?"
+
+Thickens nodded, sat down astride a Windsor chair, holding tightly by
+the curved back, and rested his upper teeth on the top, tapping the wood
+gently.
+
+Bayle waited a few moments for him to go on; but he only began rubbing
+at the top of the chair back, and stared at his visitor.
+
+"You say it is serious, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Terribly, sir."
+
+"Is it--is it a monetary question?"
+
+Thickens raised his head, nodded, and lowered it again till his teeth
+touched the chair back.  "Some one in difficulties?"
+
+Thickens nodded.
+
+"Not you, Mr Thickens?  You are too careful a man."
+
+"No: not me, sir."
+
+"Some friend?"
+
+Thickens shook his head, and there was silence for a few moments, only
+broken by the dull sound of the clerk's teeth upon the chair.
+
+"Do you want me to advance some money to a person in distress?"
+
+Thickens raised his head quickly, and looked sharply in his visitor's
+eye; but only to lower his head again.
+
+"No.  No," he said.
+
+"Then will you explain yourself?" said the curate gravely.
+
+"Yes.  Give me time.  It's hard work.  You don't know."
+
+Bayle looked at him curiously, and waited for some minutes before
+Thickens spoke again.
+
+"Yes," he said suddenly and as if his words were the result of deep
+thought; "yes, I'll tell you.  I did think I wouldn't speak after all;
+but it's right, and I will.  I can trust you, Mr Bayle?"
+
+"I hope so, Mr Thickens."
+
+"Yes, I can trust you.  I used to think you were too young and boyish,
+but you're older much, and I didn't understand you then as I do now."
+
+"I was very young when I first came, Mr Thickens," said Bayle smiling.
+"It was almost presumption for me to undertake such a duty.  Well, what
+is your trouble?"
+
+"Give me time, man; give me time," said Thickens fiercely.  "You don't
+know what it is to be in my place.  I am a confidential clerk, and it is
+like being torn up by the roots to have to speak as I want to speak."
+
+"If it is a matter of confidence ought you to speak to me, Mr
+Thickens?" said Bayle gravely.  "Do I understand you to say it is a bank
+matter?"
+
+"That's it, sir."
+
+"Then why not go to Mr Dixon?"
+
+Thickens shook his head.
+
+"Mr Trampleasure? or Sir Gordon Bourne?"
+
+"They'll know soon enough," said Thickens grimly.  A curious feeling of
+horror came over Bayle, as he heard these words, the cold, damp dew
+gathered on his brow, his hands felt moist, and his heart began to beat
+heavily.
+
+He could not have told why this was, only that a vague sense of some
+terrible horror oppressed him.  He felt that he was about to receive
+some blow, and that he was weak, unnerved, and unprepared for the shock,
+just when he required all his faculties to be at their strongest and
+best.
+
+And yet the clerk had said so little--nothing that could be considered
+as leading up to the horror the hearer foresaw.  All the same though,
+Bayle's imagination seized upon the few scant words--those few dry bones
+of utterance, clothed them with flesh, and made of them giants of terror
+before whose presence he shook and felt cowed.
+
+"Tell me," he said at last, and his voice sounded strange to him, "tell
+me all."
+
+There was another pause, and then Thickens, who looked singularly
+troubled and grey, sat up.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I'll tell you all.  I can trust you, Mr Bayle.  I
+don't come to you because you are a priest, but because you are a man--a
+gentleman who will help me, and I want to do what's right."
+
+"I know--I believe you do, Thickens," said the curate huskily, and he
+looked at him almost reproachfully, as if blaming him for the pain that
+he was about to give.
+
+He felt all this.  He could not have explained why, but as plainly as if
+he had been forewarned, he knew that some terrible blow was about to
+fall.
+
+Thickens sat staring straight before him now, gnawing hard at one of his
+nails, and looking like a man having a hard struggle with himself.
+
+It was a very plainly-furnished but pleasant little room, whose wide,
+low window had a broad sill upon which some half-dozen flowers bloomed,
+and just then, as the two men sat facing each other, the last glow of
+evening lit up the curate's troubled face, and left that of Thickens
+more and more in the shade.
+
+"That's better," he said with a half laugh.  "I wish I had left it till
+it was dark.  Look here, Mr Bayle, I've been in trouble these five
+years past."
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I say it again: I've been in trouble these six or seven
+years past, and it's been a trouble that began like a little cloud as
+you'd say--no bigger than a man's hand; and it grew slowly bigger and
+bigger, till it's got to be a great, thick, black darkness, covering
+everything before the storm bursts."
+
+"Don't talk riddles, man; speak out."
+
+"Parables, Mr Bayle, sir, parables.  Give me time, sir, give me time.
+You don't know what it is to a man who has trained himself from a boy to
+be close and keep secrets, to have to bring them out of himself and lay
+them all bare."
+
+"I'll be patient; but you are torturing me.  Go on."
+
+"I felt it would, and that's one of the things that's kept me back, sir;
+but I'm going to speak now."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Well, sir, a bank clerk is trained to be suspicious.  Every new
+customer who comes to the place is an object of suspicion to a man like
+me.  He may want to cheat us.  Every cheque that's drawn is an object of
+suspicion because it may be a forgery, or the drawer may not have a
+balance to meet it.  Then money--the number of bad coins I've detected,
+sir, would fill a big chest full of sham gold and silver, so that one
+grows to doubt and suspect every sovereign one handles.  Then, sir,
+there's men in general, and even your own people.  It's a bad life, sir,
+a bad life, a bank clerk's, for you grow at last so that you even begin
+to doubt yourself."
+
+"Ah! but that is a morbid feeling, Thickens."
+
+"No, sir, it's a true one.  I've had such a fight as you couldn't
+believe, doubting myself and whether I was right: but I think I am."
+
+"Well," said the curate, smiling a faint, dejected smile; "but you are
+still keeping me in the dark."
+
+"It will be light directly," said Thickens fiercely, "light that is
+blinding.  I dread almost to speak and let you hear."
+
+"Go on, man; go on."
+
+"I will, sir.  Well, for years past I've been in doubt about our bank."
+
+"Dixons', that every one trusts?"
+
+"Yes, sir, that's it.  Dixons' has been trusted by everybody.  Dixons',
+after a hundred years' trial, has grown to be looked upon as the truth
+in commerce.  It has been like a sort of money mill set going a hundred
+years ago, and once set going it has gone on of itself, always grinding
+coin."
+
+"But you don't mean to tell me that the bank is unsafe?  Man, man, it
+means ruin to hundreds of our friends!"
+
+He spoke in an impassioned way, but at the same time he felt more
+himself; the vague horror had grown less.
+
+"Hear me out, sir; hear me out," said Thickens slowly.  "Years ago, sir,
+I began to doubt, and then I doubted myself, and then I doubted again,
+but even then I couldn't believe.  Doubts are no use to a man like me,
+sir; he must have figures, and figures I couldn't get to prove it, sir.
+I must be able to balance a couple of pages, and then if the balance is
+on the wrong side there's something to go upon.  It has taken years to
+get these figures, but I've got them now."
+
+"Thickens, you are torturing me with this slow preamble."
+
+"For a few minutes, sir," said the clerk pathetically, "for an hour.  It
+has tortured me for years.  Listen, sir.  I began to doubt--not Dixons'
+stability, but something else."
+
+The vague horror began to increase again, and Christie Bayle's hands
+grew more damp.
+
+"I have saved a little money, and that and my writings were in the bank.
+I withdrew everything.  Cowardly?  Dishonest?  Perhaps it was; but I
+doubted, sir, and it was my little all.  Then you'll say, if I had these
+doubts I ought to have spoken.  If I had been sure perhaps I might; but
+I tell you, sir, they were doubts.  I couldn't be false to my friends
+though, and where here and there they've consulted me about their little
+bits of money I've found out investments for them, or advised them to
+buy house property.  A clergyman for whom I changed a cheque one day,
+said it would be convenient for him to have a little banking account
+with Dixons', and I said if I had an account with a good bank in London
+I wouldn't change it.  Never change your banker, I said."
+
+"Yes, Thickens, you did," said the curate eagerly, "and I have followed
+your advice.  But you are keeping me in suspense.  Tell me, is there
+risk of Dixons' having to close their doors?"
+
+"No, no, sir; it's not so bad as that.  Old Mr Dixon is very rich, and
+he'd give his last penny to put things straight.  Sir Gordon Bourne is
+an honourable gentleman--one who would sacrifice his fortune so that he
+might hold up his head.  But things are bad, sir, bad; how bad I don't
+know."
+
+"But, good heavens, man! your half-yearly balance-sheets--your books?"
+
+"All kept right, sir, and wonderfully correct.  Everything looks well in
+the books."
+
+"Then how is it?"
+
+"The securities, sir," said Thickens, with his lip quivering.  "I've
+done a scoundrelly thing."
+
+"You, Thickens?  You?  I thought you were as honest a man as ever trod
+this earth!"
+
+"Me, sir?" said the clerk grimly.  "Oh, no! oh, no!  _I'm_ a gambler, I
+am."
+
+The vague horror was dissolving fast into thin mist.  "You astound me!"
+cried Bayle, as he thought of Sir Gordon's doubts of Hallam.  "You, in
+your position of trust!  What are you going to do?"
+
+The grim smile on James Thickens's lips grew more saturnine as he said:
+
+"Make a clean breast of it, sir.  That's why I sent for you."
+
+"But, my good man!--oh, for heaven's sake! go with me at once to Sir
+Gordon and Mr Hallam.  I ought not to listen to this alone."
+
+"You're going to hear it all alone," said James Thickens, growing still
+more grim of aspect; "and when I've done you're going to give me your
+advice."
+
+Bayle gazed at him sternly, but with the strange oppression gone, and
+the shadow of the vague horror fading into nothingness.
+
+"I'm confessing to you, sir, just as if I were a Roman Catholic, and you
+were a priest."
+
+"But I decline to receive your confession on such terms, James
+Thickens," cried Bayle sternly.  "I warn you that, if you make me the
+recipient of your confidence, I must be free to lay the case before your
+employers."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Thickens with the same grim smile.  "Hear me out,
+Mr Bayle, sir.  You'd never think it of me, who came regularly to
+church, and never missed--you'd never think I had false keys made to our
+safe; but I did.  Two months ago, in London."
+
+Bayle involuntarily drew back his chair, and Thickens laughed--a little
+hard, dry laugh.
+
+"Don't be hard on the man, Mr Bayle, who advised you not to put your
+money and securities in at Dixons'."
+
+"Go on, sir," said the curate sternly.
+
+"Yes: I will go on!" cried Thickens, speaking now excitedly, in a low,
+harsh voice.  "I can't carry on that nonsense.  Look here, sir," he
+continued, shuffling his chair closer to his visitor, and getting hold
+of his sleeve, "you don't know our habits at the bank.  Everything is
+locked up in our strong-room, and Hallam keeps the key of that, and
+carefully too!  I go in and out there often, but it's always when he's
+in the room, and when he is not there he always locks it, so that,
+though I tried for years to get in there, I never had a chance."
+
+"Wretched man!" cried Bayle, trying to shake off his grip, but
+Thickens's fingers closed upon his arm like a claw.
+
+"Yes, I was wretched, and that's why I had the keys made, and altered
+again and again till I could get them to fit.  Then one day I had my
+chance.  Hallam went over to Lincoln, and I had a good examination of
+the different securities, shares, deeds--scrip of all kinds--that I had
+down on a paper, an abstract from my books."
+
+"Well, sir?"
+
+"Well, sir?  Half of them are not there.  They're dummies tied up and
+docketed."
+
+"But the real deeds?"
+
+"Pledged for advances in all sorts of quarters.  Money raised upon them
+at a dozen banks, perhaps, in town."
+
+"But--I don't understand you, Thickens; you do not mean that you--"
+
+"That I, Mr Bayle!" cried the clerk passionately.  "Shame upon you!--do
+you think I could be such a scoundrel--such a thief?"
+
+"But these deeds, and this scrip, what are they all?"
+
+"Valuable securities placed in Dixons' hands for safety."
+
+"And they are gone?"
+
+"To an enormous amount."
+
+"But, tell me," panted Bayle, with the horror vague no longer, but
+seeming to have assumed form and substance, and to be crushing him down,
+"who has done this thing?"
+
+"Who had the care of them, sir?"
+
+"Thickens," cried Bayle, starting from his chair, and catching at the
+mantelpiece, for the room seemed to swim round, and he swept an ornament
+from the shelf, which fell with a crash, "Thickens, for heaven's sake,
+don't say that."
+
+"I must say it, sir.  What am I to do?  I've doubted him for years."
+
+"But the money--he has lived extravagantly; but, oh! it is impossible.
+It can't be much."
+
+"Much, sir?  It's fifty thousand pounds if it's a penny!"
+
+"But, Thickens, it means felony, criminal prosecution, a trial."
+
+He spoke hoarsely, and his hands were trembling.  "It means
+transportation for one-and-twenty years, sir--perhaps for life."
+
+Bayle's face was ashy, and with lips apart he stood gazing at the grim,
+quiet clerk.
+
+"Man, man!" he cried at last; "it can't be true."
+
+"Do you doubt too, sir?  Well, it's natural.  I used to, and I tried to
+doubt it; a hundred times over when I was going to be sure that he was a
+villain, I used to say to myself as I went and fed my fish, it's
+impossible, a man with a wife and child like--"
+
+"Hush! for God's sake, hush!" cried Bayle passionately, and then with a
+burst of fury, he caught the clerk by the throat.  "It is a lie; Robert
+Hallam could not be such a wretch as that!"
+
+"Mr Bayle, sir," said Thickens calmly, and in an appealing tone; "can't
+you see now, sir, why I sent to you?  Do you think I don't know how you
+loved that lady, and how much she and her bright little fairy of a child
+are to you?  Why, sir, if it hadn't been for them I should have gone
+straight to Sir Gordon, and before now that scoundrel would have been in
+Lincoln jail."
+
+"But you are mistaken, Thickens.  Man, man, think what you are saying.
+Such a charge would break her heart, would brand that poor innocent
+child as the daughter of a felon.  Oh, it cannot be!" he cried
+excitedly.  "Heaven would not suffer such a wrong."
+
+"I've been years proving it, sir; years," said Thickens slowly; "and
+until I was sure, I've been as silent as the dead.  Fifty thousand
+pounds' worth of securities at least have been taken from that safe, and
+dummies filled up the spaces.  Why, sir, a score of times people wanted
+these deeds, and he has put them off for a few days till he could go up
+to London, raise money on others, and get those wanted from the banker's
+hands."
+
+"But you knew something of this, then?"
+
+"Yes, I knew it, sir--that is, I suspected it.  Until I got the keys
+made, I was not sure."
+
+"Does--does any one else know of this?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Bayle, with quite a moan.
+
+"Robert Hallam, sir."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Bayle, drawing a breath full of relief.  "You have not
+told a soul?"
+
+"No, sir.  I said to myself there's that sweet lady and her little
+child; and that stopped me.  I said to myself, I must go to the
+trustiest friend they have, sir, and that was you.  Now, sir, I have
+told you all.  The simple truth.  What am I to do?"
+
+Christie Bayle dropped into a chair, his eyes staring, his blanched face
+drawn, and his lips apart, as he conjured up the scene that must take
+place--the arrest, the wreck of Mrs Hallam's life, the suffering that
+would be her lot.  And at last, half maddened, he started up, and stood
+with clenched hands gazing fiercely at the man who had fired this train.
+
+"Well, sir," said Thickens coldly, "will you get them and the old people
+away before the exposure comes?"
+
+"No," cried Bayle fiercely, "this must not--shall not be.  It must be
+some mistake.  Mr Hallam could not do such a wrong.  Man, man, do you
+not see that such a charge would break his wife's heart?"
+
+"It was in the hope that you would do something for them, sir, that I
+told you all this first."
+
+"But we must see Mr Dixon and Sir Gordon at once."
+
+"And they will--you know what."
+
+"Hah! the matter must be hushed up.  It would kill her!" cried Bayle
+incoherently.  "Mr Thickens, you stand there like this man's judge;
+have you not made one mistake?"
+
+Thickens shook his head and tightened his lips to a thin line.
+
+"Do you not see what it would do?  Have you no mercy?"
+
+"Mr Bayle, sir," said Thickens slowly, "this has served you as it
+served me.  It's so stunning that it takes you off your head.  Am I, the
+servant of my good masters, knowing what I do, to hide this from them
+till the crash comes first--the crash that is only a matter of time?  Do
+you advise--do you wish me to do this?"
+
+Christie Bayle sat with his hands clasping his forehead, for the pain he
+suffered seemed greater than he could bear.  He had known for long
+enough that Hallam was a harsh husband and a bad father; but it had
+never even entered his dreams that he was other than an honest man.  And
+now he was asked to decide upon this momentous matter, when his decision
+must bring ruin, perhaps even death, to the woman he esteemed, and
+misery to the sweet, helpless child he had grown to love.
+
+It was to him as if he were being exposed to some temptation, for even
+though his love for Millicent had long been dead, to live again in
+another form for her child, Christie Bayle would have gone through any
+suffering for her sake.  As he bent down there the struggle was almost
+greater than he could bear.
+
+And there for long he sat, crushed and stunned by the terrible stroke
+that had fallen upon him, and was about to fall upon the helpless wife
+and child.  His mind seemed chaotic.  His reasoning powers failed, and
+as he kept clinging to little scraps of hope, they seemed to be snatched
+away.
+
+It was with a heart full of grief mingled with rage that he started to
+his feet at last, and faced Thickens, for the clerk had again spoken in
+measured tones.  "Mr Bayle, what am I to do?"
+
+The curate gazed at him piteously, as he essayed to speak; but the words
+seemed smothered as they struggled in his breast.
+
+Then, by a supreme effort, he mastered his emotion, and drew himself up.
+
+"Once more, sir, what am I to do?"
+
+"Your duty," said Christie Bayle, and with throbbing brain he turned and
+left the house.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+CHRISTIE BAYLE CHANGES HIS MIND.
+
+"God help me!  What shall I do?" groaned Christie Bayle, as he paced his
+room hour after hour into the night.  A dozen times over he had been on
+the point of going to Thickens, awakening him and forcing him to declare
+that he would keep the fearful discovery a secret until something could
+be done.
+
+"It is too horrible," he said.  "Poor Millicent!  The disgrace!  It
+would kill her."
+
+He went to the desk and began to examine his papers and his bank-book.
+
+Then he relocked his desk and paced the room again.  "Julie, my poor
+little child, too.  The horror and disgrace to rest upon her little
+innocent head.  Oh, it is too dreadful!  Will morning never come?"
+
+The hours glided slowly by, and that weary exclamation rose to his lips
+again and again:
+
+"Will morning never come?"
+
+It seemed as if it never would be day, but long before the first faint
+rays had streaked the east he had made his plans.
+
+"It is for her sake; for her child's sake.  At whatever cost, I must try
+and save them."
+
+His first ideas were to go straight to Hallam's house; but such a course
+would have excited notice.  He felt that Millicent would think it
+strange if he went there early.  Time was of the greatest importance,
+but he felt that he must not be too hasty, so seated himself to try and
+calm the throbbings of his brain, and to make himself cool and judicial
+for the task he had in hand.
+
+Soon after seven he walked quietly downstairs, and took his hat.  It
+would excite no surprise, he thought, for him to be going for a morning
+walk, and, drawing in a long breath of the sweet refreshing air, he
+began to stride up the street.
+
+"How bright and beautiful is thy earth, O God!" he murmured, as the
+delicious morning sunshine bathed his face, "and how we mar and destroy
+its beauties with our wretched scheming and plans!  Ah!  I must not feel
+like this," he muttered, as a restful hopefulness born of the early day
+seemed to be infusing itself throughout his being.
+
+He had no occasion to check the feeling of content and rest, for he had
+not gone a dozen yards before the whole force of his position flashed
+upon him.  He felt that he was a plotter against the prosperity of the
+town--that scores of the people whose homes he was passing were
+beginning the day in happy ignorance that perhaps the savings of a life
+were in jeopardy.  Ought he not to warn them at once, and bid them save
+what they could out of the fire?
+
+For his conscience smote him, asking him, how he, a clergyman, the
+preacher of truth and justice and innocence, could be going to
+temporise, almost to join in the fraud by what he was about to do?
+
+"How can I meet my people after this?" he asked himself; and his face
+grew careworn and lined.  The old reproach against him had passed away.
+No one could have called him young and boyish-looking now.
+
+"Morning, sir," cried a harsh voice.
+
+Bayle started, and flushed like some guilty creature, for he had come
+suddenly upon old Gemp as he supposed, though the reverse was really the
+case.
+
+"Going for a walk, sir?" said Gemp, pointing at him, and scanning his
+face searchingly.
+
+"Yes, Mr Gemp.  Fine morning, is it not?"
+
+Gemp stood shaving himself with one finger, as the curate passed on, and
+made a curious rasping noise as the rough finger passed over the
+stubble.  Then he shook his head and began to follow slowly and at a
+long distance.
+
+"I felt as if that man could read my very thoughts," said Bayle, as he
+went along the street, past the bank, and out into the north road that
+led towards the mill.
+
+He shuddered as he passed Dixons', and pictured to himself what would
+happen if the doors were closed and an excited crowd of depositors were
+hungering for their money.
+
+"It must be stopped at any cost," he muttered; and once more the sweet
+sad face of Millicent seemed to be looking into his for help.
+
+"I ought to have suspected him before," he continued; "but how could I,
+when even Sir Gordon could see no wrong?  Ha!  Yes.  Perhaps Thickens is
+mistaken after all.  It may be, as he said, only suspicion."
+
+His heart seemed like lead, though, the next moment, as he neared the
+clerk's house.  Thickens was too just, too careful a man to have been
+wrong.
+
+He stopped, and rapped with his knuckles at the door directly after, to
+find it opened by Thickens himself, and, as the clerk drew back, he
+passed in, ignorant of the fact that Gemp was shaving himself with his
+rough forefinger a hundred yards away, and saying to himself, "Which is
+it?  Thickens going to marry skinny Heathery on the sly; or something
+wrong?  I shan't be long before I know."
+
+The brightness of the morning seemed to be shut out as the clerk closed
+the door, and followed his visitor into the sitting-room.
+
+"Well, Mr Bayle," he said, for the curate was silent.  "You've come to
+say something particular."
+
+"Yes," said Bayle firmly.  "Thickens, this exposure would be too
+horrible.  It must not take place."
+
+"Ah," said Thickens in his quiet, grave way, "you're the Hallams'
+friend."
+
+"I hope I am the friend of every one in this town."
+
+"And you advise me to keep this quiet and let your friends be robbed?"
+
+"Silence, man!  How dare you speak to me like that?" cried Bayle
+furiously, and he took a step in advance.  "No, no," he said, checking
+himself, and holding out his hand; "we must be calm and sensible over
+this, Thickens.  There must be no temper.  Now listen.  You remember
+what I said you must do last night."
+
+"Yes; and _I'm_ going directly after breakfast to Sir Gordon."
+
+"No; I retract my words.  You must not go."
+
+"And the people who have been robbed?"
+
+"Wait a few moments, Thickens," cried Bayle, flushing, as he saw that
+his hand was not taken.  "Hear me out.  You--yes, surely, you have some
+respect for Mrs Hallam--some love for her sweet child."
+
+Thickens nodded.
+
+"Think, then, man, of the horrible disgrace--the ruin that would follow
+your disclosures."
+
+"Yes; it is very horrid, sir; but I must do my duty.  You owned to it
+last night."
+
+"Yes, man, yes; but surely there are times when we may try and avert
+some of the horrors that would fall upon the heads of the innocent and
+true."
+
+"That don't sound like what a parson ought to say," said Thickens dryly.
+
+Bayle flushed angrily again, but he kept down his wrath.
+
+"James Thickens," he said coldly, "you mistake me."
+
+"No," said Thickens, "you spoke out like a man last night.  This
+morning, sir, you speak like Robert Hallam's friend."
+
+"Yes; as his friend--as the friend of his wife; as one who loves his
+child.  Now listen, Thickens.  To what amount do you suppose Hallam is a
+defaulter?"
+
+"How can I tell, sir?  It is impossible to say.  It can't be hushed up."
+
+"It must, it shall be hushed up," said Bayle sternly.  "Now, look here;
+I insist upon your keeping what you know quiet for the present."
+
+Thickens shook his head.
+
+"I did not tell you, but Sir Gordon suspects something to be wrong."
+
+"Sir Gordon does, sir?"
+
+"Yes; he consulted me about the matter."
+
+"Then my course is easy," said Thickens brightening.
+
+"Not so easy, perhaps, as you think," said Bayle coldly.  "You must be
+silent till I have seen Hallam."
+
+"Seen him, sir?  Why, it's giving him warning to escape."
+
+"Seen him and Sir Gordon, James Thickens.  It would be a terrible
+scandal for Dixons' Bank if it were known, and utter ruin and disgrace
+for Hallam."
+
+"Yes," said Thickens, "and he deserves it."
+
+"We must not talk about our deserts, Thickens," said Bayle gravely.
+"Now listen to me.  I find I can realise in a very few days the sum of
+twenty-four thousand pounds."
+
+Thickens's eyes dilated.
+
+"Whatever amount of that is needed, even to the whole, I am going to
+place in Robert Hallam's hands, to clear himself and redeem these
+securities, and then he must leave the town quietly, and in good
+repute."
+
+"In good repute?"
+
+"For his wife's sake, sir.  Do you understand?"
+
+"No," said Thickens quietly.  "No man could understand such a sacrifice
+as that.  You mean to say that you are going to give up your fortune--
+all you have--to save that gambling scoundrel from what he deserves?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But, Mr Bayle--"
+
+"Silence!  I have made my plans, sir.  Now, Mr Thickens, you see that I
+am not going to defraud the customers of the bank, but to replace their
+deeds."
+
+"God bless you, sir!  I beg your pardon humbly.  I'm a poor ignorant
+brute, with no head for anything but figures and--my fish.  And just now
+I wouldn't take your hand.  Mr Bayle, sir, will you forgive me?"
+
+"Forgive!  I honour you, Thickens, as a sterling, honest man--shake
+hands.  There, now you know my plans."
+
+"Oh yes, sir, I understand you!" cried Thickens; "but you must not do
+that, sir.  You must not indeed!"
+
+"I can do as I please with my own, Thickens.  Save for my charities,
+money is of little use to me.  There, now I must go.  I shall see Hallam
+as soon as he is at the bank.  I will not go to his house, for nothing
+must be done to excite suspicion.  You will help me?"
+
+Thickens hesitated.
+
+"I ask it for Mrs Hallam's sake--for the sake of Doctor and Mrs
+Luttrell.  Come, you will help me in this.  You came to me for my advice
+last night.  I have changed it during the past few hours.  There, I have
+you on my side?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but you must hold me free with Sir Gordon.  Bah! no; I'll
+take my chance, sir.  Yes: I'll help you as you wish."
+
+"I trust you will, Thickens," said Bayle quietly.
+
+"And you are determined, sir?--your fortune--all you have?"
+
+"I am determined.  I shall see you at the bank about ten."
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+BROUGHT TO BOOK.
+
+"He--he--he--he--he! how cunning they do think themselves!  What jolly
+owd orstridges they are!" chuckled old Gemp, as he saw Bayle leave the
+clerk's house, and return home to his breakfast.  "Dear me! dear me! to
+think of James Thickens marrying that old maid!  Ah well!  Of course, he
+didn't go to her house for nothing!"
+
+He was in the street, again, about ten, when the curate came out, and,
+as soon as he saw him, Gemp doubled down one of the side lanes to get
+round to the church, and secure a good place.
+
+"They won't know in the town till it's over," he chuckled.  "Sly trick!
+He--he--he!"
+
+The old fellow hurried round into the churchyard, getting before Bayle,
+as he thought, and posting himself where he could meet the curate coming
+in at the gate, and give him a look which should mean, "Ah! you can't
+get over me!"
+
+An observer would have found old Gemp's countenance a study, as he stood
+there, waiting for Bayle to come, and meaning afterwards to stay and see
+Thickens and Miss Heathery come in.  But from where he stood he could
+see the bank, and, to his surprise, he saw James Thickens come out on
+the step, and directly after the curate went up to him, and they entered
+the place together.
+
+Gemp's countenance lengthened, and he began shaving himself directly,
+his eyes falling upon one of the mouldering old tombstones, upon which
+he involuntarily read:
+
+"Lay not up for yourselves treasure--" The rest had mouldered away.
+
+"Where thieves break through and steal," cried Gemp, whose jaw dropped.
+"They're a consulting--parson and Sir Gordon--parson and Thickens
+twiced--parson at the bank--Hallam up to his eyes in debt!"
+
+He reeled, so strong was his emotion, but he recovered himself directly.
+
+"My deeds! my money!" he gasped, "my--"
+
+He could utter no more, for a strange giddiness assailed him, and after
+clutching for a moment in the air, he fell down in a fit.
+
+"Yes, he's in his room, sir," said Thickens, meeting Bayle at the bank
+door.  "I'll tell him you are here."
+
+Hallam required no telling.  He had seen Bayle come up, and he appeared
+at the door of his room so calm and cool that his visitor felt a
+moment's hesitation.
+
+"Want to see me, Bayle?  Business?  Come in."
+
+The door closed behind the curate, and James Thickens screwed his face
+into wrinkles, and buttoned his coat up to the last button, as he seated
+himself upon his stool.
+
+"Well, what can I do for you, Bayle?" said Hallam, seating himself at
+his table, after placing a chair for his visitor, which was not taken.
+
+Bayle did not answer, but stood gazing down at the smooth,
+handsome-looking man, with his artificial smile and easy manner; and it
+seemed as if the events of the past few years--since he came, so young
+and inexperienced, to the town--were flitting by him.
+
+"A little money?--a little accommodation?" said Hallam, as his visitor
+did not speak.
+
+Could Thickens be wrong?  No: impossible.  Too many little things, that
+had seemed unimportant before, now grew to a vast significance, and
+Bayle cast aside his hesitancy, and, taking a step forward, laid his
+hand upon the table.
+
+"Robert Hallam!" he said, in a low, deep voice, full of emotion, "are
+you aware of your position--how you stand?"
+
+The manager started slightly, but the spasm passed in a moment, and he
+said calmly, with a smile:
+
+"My position?  How I stand?  I do not comprehend you!  My dear Bayle,
+what do you mean?"  The curate gazed in his eyes, a calm, firm, judicial
+look in his countenance; but Hallam did not flinch.  And again the idea
+flashed across the visitor's mind, "Suppose Thickens should be wrong!"
+
+Again, though, he cast off his hesitation, and spoke out firmly.
+
+"Let me be plain with you, Robert Hallam, and show you the precipice
+upon whose edge you stand."
+
+"Good heavens, Mr Bayle, are you ill?" said Hallam in the coolest
+manner.
+
+"Yes; sick at heart, to find of what treachery to employers, to wife and
+child, a man like you can be guilty.  Hallam, your great sin is
+discovered!  What have you to say?"
+
+"Say!" cried Hallam, laughing scornfully, "say, in words that you use so
+often, `Who made you a ruler and a judge?'  What do you mean?"
+
+"I came neither as ruler nor judge, but as the friend of your wife and
+child.  There--as your friend.  Man, it is of no use to dissimulate!"
+
+"Dissimulate, sir!"
+
+"Am I to be plainer?" cried Bayle angrily, "and tell you that but for my
+interposition James Thickens would at this moment be with Sir Gordon and
+Mr Dixon, exposing your rascality."
+
+"My rascality!  How dare--"
+
+"Dare!" cried Bayle sternly.  "Cast off this contemptible mask, and be
+frank.  Do I not tell you I come as a friend?"
+
+"Then explain yourself."
+
+"I will," said Bayle; and for a few minutes there was a silence almost
+appalling.  The clock upon the mantelpiece ticked loudly; the stool upon
+which James Thickens sat in the outer office gave a loud scroop; and a
+large bluebottle fly shut in the room beat itself heavily against the
+panes in its efforts to escape.
+
+Bayle was alternately flushed and pale.  Hallam, perfectly calm, paler
+than usual, but beyond seeming hurt and annoyed, there was nothing to
+indicate the truth of the terrible charge being brought against him.
+
+"Well, sir," he said at last, "why do you not speak?"
+
+Bayle gazed at him wonderingly, for all thought of his innocence had
+passed away.
+
+"I will speak, Hallam," he said.  "Tell me the amount for which the
+deeds you have abstracted from that safe are pledged."
+
+"The deeds I have abstracted from that safe?" said Hallam, rising
+slowly, and standing at his full height, with his head thrown back.
+
+"Yes; and in whose place you have installed forgeries, dummies--
+imitations, if you will."
+
+That blow was too straight--too heavy to be resisted.  Hallam dropped
+back in his chair; while James Thickens, at his desk behind the bank
+counter, heard the shock, and then fidgeted in his seat, and rubbed his
+right ear, as he heard Hallam speak of him in a low voice, and say
+hoarsely:
+
+"Thickens, then, has told you this?"
+
+"Yes," said Bayle in a lower tone.  "He came to me for advice, and I
+bade him do his duty."
+
+"Hah!" said Hallam, and his eyes wandered about the room.
+
+"This morning I begged him to wait."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Hallam again, and now there was a sharp twitching
+about his closely-shaven lips.  "And you said that you came as our
+friend?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+Bayle waited for a few moments, and then said slowly: "If you will
+redeem those deeds with which you have been entrusted, and go from here,
+and commence a new career of honesty, I will, for your wife and child's
+sake, find the necessary money."
+
+"You will?  You will do this, Bayle?" cried Hallam, extending his hands,
+which were not taken.
+
+"I have told you I will," said Bayle coldly.  "But--the amount?"
+
+"How many thousands are they pledged for?--to some bank, of course?"
+
+"It was to cover an unfortunate speculation.  I--"
+
+"I do not ask you for explanations," said Bayle coldly.  "What amount
+will clear your defalcations?"
+
+"Twenty to twenty-one thousand," said Hallam, watching the effect of his
+words.
+
+"I will find the money within a week," said Bayle.
+
+"Then all will be kept quiet?"
+
+"Sir Gordon must be told."
+
+"No, no; there is no need of that.  The affairs will be put straight,
+and matters can go on as before.  It was an accident; I could not help
+it.  Stop, man, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Call in Mr Thickens," said Bayle.
+
+"To expose and degrade me in his eyes!"
+
+Bayle turned upon him a withering contemptuous look.
+
+"I expose you?  Why, man, but for me you would have been in the hands of
+the officers by now.  Mr Thickens!"
+
+Thickens got slowly down from his stool and entered the manager's room,
+where Hallam met his eye with a look that made the clerk think of what
+would have been his chances of life had opportunity served for him to be
+silenced for ever.
+
+"I have promised Mr Hallam to find twenty-one thousand pounds within a
+week--to enable him to redeem the securities he has pledged."
+
+"And under these circumstances, Mr Thickens, there is no need for this
+trouble to be exposed."
+
+"Not to the public perhaps," said Thickens slowly, "but Sir Gordon and
+Mr Dixon ought to know."
+
+"No, no," cried Hallam, "there is no need.  Don't you see, man, that the
+money will be made right?"
+
+"No, sir, I only see one thing," said Thickens sturdily, "and that is
+that I have my duty to do."
+
+"But you will ruin me, Thickens."
+
+"You've ruined yourself, Mr Hallam; I've waited too long."
+
+"Stop, Mr Thickens," said Bayle.  "I pay this heavy sum of money to
+save Mr Hallam from utter ruin.  The bank will be the gainer by twenty
+thousand pounds."
+
+"Twenty-one thousand you offered, sir," said Thickens.
+
+"Exactly.  More if it is needed.  If you expose this terrible affair to
+Sir Gordon and Mr Dixon they may feel it their duty to hand Mr Hallam
+over to the hands of justice.  He must be saved from that."
+
+"What can I do, sir?  There, then," said Thickens, "since you put it so
+I will keep to it, but only on one condition."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"Mr Hallam must go away from the bank and leave all keys with me and
+Mr Trampleasure."
+
+"But what excuse am I to make?" said Hallam huskily.
+
+"I don't think you want teaching how to stop at home for a few days, Mr
+Hallam," said Thickens sternly; "you can be ill for a little while.  It
+will not be the first time."
+
+"I will agree to anything," said Hallam excitedly, "only save me from
+that other horror.  Bayle, for our old friendship's sake, for the sake
+of my poor wife and child, save me from that."
+
+"Am I not fighting to save you for their sake?" said Bayle bitterly.
+"Do you suppose that I am as conscienceless as yourself, and that I do
+not feel how despicable, how dishonest a part I am playing in hindering
+James Thickens from exposing your rascality?  There, enough of this: let
+us bring this terribly painful meeting, with its miserable subterfuges,
+to an end.  Thickens is right; you must leave this building at once and
+not enter it again.  He must take all in charge until your successor is
+found."
+
+"As you will," said Hallam, humbly.  "There are the keys, Thickens, and
+I am really ill.  When Mr Bayle brings the money I will help in every
+way I can.  There."
+
+Bayle hesitated a moment, and then mastered his dislike.  "Come," he
+said to Hallam, "there must be no whisper of this trouble in the town.
+I will walk down with you to your house."
+
+"As my gaoler?" said Hallam with a sneer.
+
+"As another proof of what I am ready to sacrifice to save you," said
+Bayle.  He walked with him as far as his door.
+
+"Stop a moment," said Hallam in a whisper.  "You will do this for me,
+Bayle?"
+
+"I have told you I would," replied the curate coldly.  "And at once?"
+
+"At once."
+
+"You will have to bring me the money.  No, you must go up to town with
+me, and we can redeem the papers.  It will be better so."
+
+"As you will," said Bayle.  "I have told you that I will help you, will
+put myself at your service.  I will let you know when I can be ready.
+Rest assured I shall waste no time in removing as much of this shadow as
+I can from above their heads."
+
+He met Hallam's eyes as he spoke, just as the latter had been furtively
+Measuring, as it were, his height and strength, and then they parted.
+
+End of Volume One.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER NINE.
+
+A FEW WORDS ON LOVE.
+
+"What has papa been doing in the lumber-room, mamma?" asked Julia that
+same evening.
+
+"Examining some of the old furniture there, my dear," said Millicent,
+looking up with a smile.  "I think he is going to have it turned into a
+play-room for you."
+
+"Oh!" said Julia indifferently; and she turned her thoughtful little
+face away, while her mother rose with the careworn look that so often
+sat there, giving place to the happy, maternal smile that came whenever
+she was alone with her child.
+
+"Why, Julie darling, you seem so quiet and dull to-night.  Your little
+head is hot.  You are not unwell, dear?"
+
+She knelt down beside the child, and drew the soft little head to her
+shoulder, and laid her cheek to the burning forehead.
+
+"That is nice," said the child, with a sigh of content.  "Oh! mamma, it
+does do me so much good.  My head doesn't ache now."
+
+"And did it ache before?"
+
+"Yes, a little," said the child thoughtfully, and turning up her face,
+she kissed the sweet countenance that was by her side again and again.
+"I do love you so, mamma."
+
+"Why of course you do, my dear."
+
+"I don't think I love papa."
+
+"Julie!" cried Millicent, starting from her as if she had been stung.
+"Oh I my child, my child," she continued, with passionate energy, "if
+you only knew how that hurts me.  My darling, you do--you do love him
+more than you love me."
+
+Julia shook her head and gazed back full in her mother's eyes, as
+Millicent held her back at arm's length, and then caught her to her
+breast, sobbing wildly.
+
+"_I_ do try to love him, mamma," said the child, speaking quickly, in a
+half-frightened tone; "but when I put my arms round his neck and kiss
+him he pushes me away.  I don't think he loves me; he seems so cross
+with me.  But if it makes you cry, I'm going to try and love him ever so
+much.  There."
+
+She kissed her mother with all a child's effusion, and nestled close to
+her.
+
+"He does love you, my darling," said Millicent, holding the child
+tightly to her, "as dearly as he loves me, and _I'm_ going to tell you
+why papa looks so serious sometimes.  It is because he has so many
+business cares and troubles."
+
+"But why does papa have so many business cares and troubles?" said the
+child, throwing back her head, and beginning to toy with her mother's
+hair.
+
+"Because he has to think about making money, and saving, so as to render
+us independent, my darling.  It is because he loves us both that he
+works so hard and is so serious."
+
+"I wish he would not," said the child.  "I wish he would love me ever so
+instead, like Mr Bayle does.  Mamma, why has not Mr Bayle been here
+to-day?"
+
+"I don't know, my child; he has been away perhaps."
+
+"But he did walk to the door with papa, and then did not come in."
+
+"Maybe he is busy, my dear."
+
+"Oh!  I do wish people would not be busy," said the child pettishly, "it
+makes them so disagreeable.  Thibs is always being busy, and then oh!
+she is so cross."
+
+"Why, Julie, you want people always to be laughing and playing with
+you."
+
+"No, no, mamma, I like to work sometimes--with Mr Bayle and learn, and
+so I do like the lessons I learn with you.  You never look cross at me,
+and Mr Bayle never does."
+
+"But, my darling, the world could not go on if people were never
+serious.  Why, the sun does not always shine: there are clouds over it
+sometimes."
+
+"But it's always shining behind the clouds, Mr Bayle says."
+
+"And so is papa's love for his darling shining behind the clouds--the
+serious looks that come upon his face," cried Millicent.  "There, you
+must remember that."
+
+"Yes," said the child, nodding, and drawing two clusters of curls away
+from her mother's face to look up at it laughingly and then kiss her
+again and again.  "Oh! how pretty you are, mamma!  I never saw any one
+with a face like yours."
+
+"Silence, little nonsense talker," cried Millicent, with her face all
+happy smiles and the old look of her unmarried life coming back as she
+returned the child's caresses.
+
+"I never did," continued Julia, tracing the outlines of the countenance
+that bent over her, with one rosy finger.  "Grandma's is very, very
+nice, and I like grandpa's face, but it is very rough.  Mamma!"
+
+"Well, my darling."
+
+"Does papa love you very, very much?"
+
+"Very, very much, my darling," said her mother proudly.
+
+"And do you love him very, very much?"
+
+"Heaven only knows how dearly," said Millicent in a deep, low voice that
+came from her heart.
+
+"But does papa know too?"
+
+"Why, of course, my darling."
+
+"I wish he would not say such cross things to you sometimes."
+
+"Yes, we both wish he had not so much trouble.  Why, what a little
+babbler it is to-night!  Have you any more questions to ask before we go
+up and fetch papa down and play to him?"
+
+"Don't go yet," cried the child.  "I like to talk to you this way, it's
+so nice.  I say, mamma, do people get married because they love one
+another?"
+
+"Hush, hush! what next?" said Millicent smiling, as she laid her hand
+upon the child's lips.  "Of course, of course."
+
+Julie caught the hand in hers, kissed it, and held it fast.
+
+"Why does not Mr Bayle love some one?"
+
+A curious, fixed look came over Millicent's face, and she gazed down at
+her babbling child in a half-frightened way.
+
+"He will some day," she said at last.
+
+"No, he won't," said the child, shaking her head and looking very wise.
+
+"Why, what nonsense is this, Julie?"
+
+"I asked him one day when we were sitting out in the woods, and he
+looked at me almost like papa does, and then he jumped up and laughed,
+and called me a little chatterer, and made me run till I was out of
+breath.  But I asked him, though."
+
+"You asked him?"
+
+"Yes; I asked him if he would marry a beautiful lady some day, as
+beautiful as you are, and he took me in his arms and kissed me, and said
+that he never should, because he had got a little girl to love--he meant
+me.  And oh! here's papa: let's tell him.  No, I don't think I will.  I
+don't think he likes Mr Bayle."
+
+Millicent rose from her knees as Hallam entered the room, looking
+haggard and frowning.  He glanced from one to the other, and then caught
+sight of himself in the glass, and saw that there was a patch as of lime
+or mortar upon his coat.
+
+He brushed it off quickly, being always scrupulously particular about
+his clothes, and then came towards them.
+
+"Send that child away," he said harshly.  "I want to be quiet."
+
+Millicent bent down smiling over the child and kissed her.
+
+"Go to Thisbe now, my darling," she whispered; "but say good-night first
+to papa, and then you will not have to come to him again.  Perhaps he
+may be out."
+
+The child's face became grave with a gravity beyond its years.  It was
+the mother's young face repeated, with Hallam's dark hair and eyes.
+
+She advanced to him, timidly putting out her hand, and bending forward
+with that sweetly innocent look of a child ready so trustingly to give
+itself into your arms as it asks for a caress.
+
+"Good-night, papa dear," she cried in her little silvery voice.
+
+"Good-night, Julie, good-night," he said abruptly; and he just patted
+her head, and was turning away, when he caught sight of the
+disappointed, troubled look coming over her countenance, paused half
+wonderingly, and then bent down and extended his hands to her.
+
+There was a quick hysteric cry, a passionate sob or two, and the child
+bounded into his arms, flung her arms round his neck, and kissed him,
+his lips, his cheeks, his eyes again and again, in a quick, excited
+manner.
+
+Hallam's countenance wore a look of half-contemptuous doubt for a
+moment, as he glanced at his wife, and then the good that was in him
+mastered the ill.  His face flushed, a spasm twitched it, and clasping
+his child to his breast, he held her there for a few moments, then
+kissed her tenderly, and set her down, her hair tumbled, her eyes wet,
+but her sweet countenance irradiated with joy, as, clasping her hands,
+she cried out:
+
+"Papa loves--he loves me, he loves me!  I am so happy now."
+
+Then half mad with childish joy, she turned, kissed her hands to both,
+and bounded out of the room.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TEN.
+
+HUSBAND AND WIFE.
+
+There was a momentary silence, and then as the door closed, Millicent
+laid her hands upon her husband's shoulders, and gazed tenderly in his
+face.
+
+"Robert, my own!" she whispered.
+
+No more; her eyes bespoke the mother's joy at this breaking down of the
+ice between father and daughter.  Then a look of surprise and pain came
+into those loving eyes, for Hallam repulsed her rudely.
+
+"It is your doing, yours, and that cursed parson's work.  The child has
+been taught to hate me.  Curse him!  He has been my enemy from the very
+first."
+
+"Robert--husband!  Oh, take back those words!" cried Millicent, throwing
+herself upon his breast.  "You cannot mean it.  You know I love you too
+well for that.  How could you say it!"
+
+She clung to him for a few moments, gazing wildly in his face, and then
+she seemed to read it plainly.
+
+"No, no, don't speak," she cried tenderly.  "I can see it all.  You are
+in some great trouble, dear, or you would not have spoken like that.
+Robert, husband, I am your own wife; I have never pressed you for your
+confidence in all these money troubles you have borne; but now that
+something very grave has happened, let me share the load."
+
+She pressed him back gently to a chair, and, overcome by her earnest
+love, he yielded and sank back slowly into the seat.  The next instant
+she was at his knees, holding his hands to her throbbing breast.
+
+"No, I don't mean what I said," he muttered, with some show of
+tenderness; and a loving smile dawned upon Millicent's careworn face.
+
+"Don't speak of that," she said.  "It was only born of the trouble you
+are in.  Let me help you, dear; let me share your sorrow with you.  If
+only with my sympathy there may be some comfort."
+
+He did not answer, but sat gazing straight before him.
+
+"Tell me, dear.  Is it some money trouble?  Some speculation has
+failed?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"Then why not set all those ambitious thoughts aside, dear husband?" she
+said, nestling to him.  "Give up everything, and let us begin again.
+With the love of my husband and my child, what have I to wish for?
+Robert, we love you so dearly.  You, and not the money you can make, are
+all the world to us."
+
+He looked at her suspiciously, for there was not room in his narrow mind
+for full faith in so much devotion.  It was more than he could
+understand, but his manner was softer than it had been of late, as he
+said:
+
+"You do not understand such things."
+
+"Then teach me," she said smiling.  "I will be so apt a pupil.  I shall
+be working to free my husband from the toils and troubles in which he is
+ensnared."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"What, still keeping me out of your heart, Rob!" she whispered, with her
+eyes beaming love and devotion.  Then, half-playfully and with a tremor
+in her voice, "Robert, my own brave lion amongst men, refuse the aid of
+the weak mouse who would gnaw the net?"
+
+"Pish, you talk like a child," he cried contemptuously.  "Net, indeed!"
+and in his insensate rage, he piled his hatred upon the man who had
+stepped in to save him.  "But for that cursed fellow, Bayle, this would
+not have happened."
+
+"Robert, darling, you mistake him.  You do not know his heart.  How true
+he is!  If he has gone against you in some business matter, it is
+because he is conscientious and believes you wrong."
+
+"And you side with him, and believe too?"
+
+"I?" she cried proudly.  "You are my husband, and whatever may be your
+trouble, I stand with you against the world."
+
+"Brave girl!" he cried warmly; "now you speak like a true woman.  I will
+trust you, and you shall help me.  I did not think you had it in you,
+Milly.  That's better."
+
+"Then you will trust me?"
+
+"Yes," he said, raising one hand to his face, and beginning nervously to
+bite his nails.  "I will trust you; perhaps you can help me out of this
+cursed trap."
+
+"Yes, I will," she cried.  "I feel that I can.  Oh, Robert, let it be
+always thus in the future.  Treat me as your partner, your inferior in
+brain and power, but still your helpmate.  I will toil so hard to make
+myself worthy of my husband.  Now tell me everything.  Stop!  I know,"
+she cried; "it is something connected with the visits of that Mr
+Crellock, that man you helped in his difficulties years ago."
+
+"I helped?  Who told you that?"
+
+She smiled.
+
+"Ah! these things are so talked of.  Mrs Pinet told Miss Heathery, and
+she came and told me.  I felt so proud of you, dear, for your unselfish
+behaviour towards this man.  Do you suppose I forget his coming on our
+wedding-day, and how troubled you were till you had sent him away by the
+coach?"
+
+"You said nothing?"
+
+"Said nothing?  Was I ever one to pry into my husband's business
+matters?  I said to myself that I would wait till he thought me old
+enough in years, clever enough in wisdom, to be trusted.  And now, after
+this long probation, you will trust me, love?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"And your troubles shall grow less by being shared.  Now tell me I am
+right about it.  Your worry is due to this Mr Crellock?"
+
+"Yes," he said in a low voice.
+
+"I knew it," she cried.  "You have always been troubled when he came
+down, and when you went up to town.  I knew as well as if you had told
+me that you had seen him when you went up.  There was always the same
+harassed, careworn look in your eyes; and Robert, darling, if you had
+known how it has made me suffer, you would have come to me for
+consolation, if not for help."
+
+"Ah! yes, perhaps."
+
+"Now go on," she said firmly, and rising from her place by his knees,
+she took a chair and drew it near him.
+
+"There," she said smiling; "you shall see how business-like I will be."
+
+He sat with his brow knit for a few minutes, and then drew a long
+breath.
+
+"You are right," he said.  "Stephen Crellock is mixed up with it.  You
+shall know all.  And mind this, whatever people may say--"
+
+"Whatever people may say!" she exclaimed contemptuously.
+
+"I am innocent; my hands are clean."
+
+"As if I needed telling that," she said with a proud smile.  "Now I am
+waiting, tell me all."
+
+"Oh, there is little to tell," he said quickly.  "That fellow Crellock,
+by his plausible baits, has led me into all kinds of speculations."
+
+"I thought so," she said to herself.
+
+"I failed in one, and then he tempted me to try another to cover my
+loss; and so it went on and on, till--"
+
+"Till what?" she said with her eyes dilating; and a chill feeling of
+horror which startled her began to creep to her heart.
+
+"Till the losses were so great that large sums of money were necessary,
+and--"
+
+"Robert!"
+
+"Don't look at me in that way, Milly," he said, with a half-laugh, "you
+are not going to begin by distrusting me?"
+
+"No, no," she panted.
+
+"Well, till large sums were necessary, and the scoundrel literally
+forced me to raise money from the bank."
+
+She felt the evil increasing; but she forced it away with the warm glow
+of her love.
+
+"I've been worried to death," he continued, "to put these things
+straight, and it is this that has kept me so poor."
+
+"Yes, I see," she cried.  "Oh, Robert, how you must have suffered!"
+
+"Ah!  Yes!  I have," he said; "but never mind that.  Well, I was getting
+things straight as fast as I could; and all would now have been right
+again had not Bayle and his miserable jackal, Thickens, scented out the
+trouble, and they have seized me by the throat."
+
+"But, Robert, why not clear yourself?  Why not go to Sir Gordon?  He
+would help you."
+
+"Sir Gordon does not like me.  But there, I have a few days to turn
+myself round in, and then all will come right; but if--"
+
+He stopped, and looked rather curiously.
+
+"Yes?" she said, laying her hand in his.
+
+"If my enemies should triumph.  If Bayle--"
+
+"If Mr Bayle--"
+
+"Silence!" he said.  "I have told you that this man is my cruel enemy.
+He has never forgiven me for robbing him of you."
+
+"You did not rob him," she said tenderly.  "But are you not mistaken in
+Mr Bayle?"
+
+"You are, in your sweet womanly innocency and trustfulness.  I tell you
+he is my enemy, and trying to hound me down."
+
+"Let me speak to him."
+
+"I forbid it," he cried fiercely.  "Choose your part.  Are you with me
+or the men whom I know to be my enemies?  Will you stand by me whatever
+happens?"
+
+"You know," she said, with a trustful smile in her eyes.
+
+"That's my brave wife," he said.  "This is better.  If my enemies do get
+the better of me--if, for Crellock's faults, charges are brought against
+me--if I am by necessity forced to yield, and think it better to go
+right away from here for a time--suddenly--will you come?"
+
+"And leave my mother and father?"
+
+"Are not a husband's claims stronger?  Tell me, will you go with me?"
+
+"To the world's end, Robert," she cried, rising and throwing her arms
+about his neck.  "I am glad that this trouble has come."
+
+"Glad?"
+
+"Yes, for it has taught you at last the strength of your wife's love."
+
+He drew her to his heart, and kissed her, and there she clung for a
+time.
+
+"Now listen," he said, putting her from him.  "We must be
+business-like."
+
+"Yes," she said firmly.
+
+"The old people must not have the least suspicion that we have any idea
+of leaving."
+
+"Might I not bid them good-bye?"
+
+"No.  That is, if we left.  We may not have to go.  If we do, it must be
+suddenly."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"You must wait."
+
+Just then the door opened, and Thisbe appeared.
+
+"There's a gentleman to see you, sir--that Mr Crellock."
+
+"Show him in my study, and I'll come."
+
+Thisbe disappeared, and Millicent laid her hand upon her husband's arm.
+
+"Don't be afraid," he said quietly.  "I know how to deal with him now.
+Only trust me, and all shall be well."
+
+"I do trust you," said Millicent, and she sat there with a face like
+marble, listening to her husband's step across the hall, and then sat
+patiently for hours, during which time the bell had been rung for the
+spirit stand and hot water, while the fumes of tobacco stole into the
+room.
+
+At last there were voices and steps in the hall; the front door was
+opened and closed, and as Millicent Hallam awoke to the fact that she
+had not been up to see her child since she went to bed, and that it was
+nearly midnight, Hallam entered the room, looking more cheerful, and
+crossing to her he took her in his arms.
+
+"Things are looking brighter," he said.  "We have only to wait.  Now,
+mind this--don't ask questions--it is better that I should not go to the
+bank for a few days.  I am unwell."
+
+Millicent looked at him hard.  Certainly his eyes were sunken, and for
+answer, as she told herself that he must have suffered much, she bowed
+her head.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+GETTING NEAR THE EDGE.
+
+"Quite out of the question," said James Thickens.
+
+"But what is there to fear?"
+
+"I don't know that there is anything to fear," said Thickens dryly.
+"What I know is this, and I've thought it over.  You are not going up to
+town with him, but by yourself, to get this money--if you still mean
+it."
+
+"I still mean it!  There, go on."
+
+"Well, you will go up, and sign what you have to sign, get this money in
+notes, and bring it down yourself."
+
+"But Hallam will think it so strange--that I mistrust him."
+
+"Of course he will.  So you do; so do I.  And after thinking this matter
+over, I am going to have that money deposited here, and I'm going to
+redeem the bonds and deeds myself, getting all information from Hallam."
+
+"But this will be a hard and rather public proceeding."
+
+"I don't know about hard, and as to public, no one will know about it
+but we three, for old Gemp will not smell it out.  He is down with the
+effects of a bad seizure, and not likely to leave his bed for days."
+
+"But, Thickens--"
+
+"Mr Bayle, I am more of a business man than you, so trust me.  You are
+making sacrifice enough, and are not called upon to study the feelings
+of one of the greatest scoundrels--"
+
+"Oh! hush! hush!"
+
+"I say it again, sir--one of the greatest scoundrels that ever drew
+breath."
+
+Bayle frowned, and drew his own hard.
+
+"I don't know," he said, "that I shall care to carry this money--so
+large a sum."
+
+"Nonsense, sir, a packet of notes in a pocket-book.  These things are
+comparative.  When I was a boy I can remember thinking ninepence a large
+amount; now I stand on a market day shovelling out gold and fingering
+over greasy notes and cheques, till I don't seem to know what a large
+sum is.  You take my advice, go and get it without saying a word to
+Hallam; and I tell you what it is, sir, if it wasn't for poor Mrs
+Hallam and that poor child, I should be off my bargain, and go to Sir
+Gordon at once."
+
+"I will go and get the money without Hallam, Thickens; but as I
+undertook to go with him, I shall write and tell him I have gone."
+
+"Very well, sir, very well.  As you please," said Thickens; "I should
+not: but you are a clergyman, and more particular about such things than
+I am."
+
+Bayle smiled, and shook hands, leaving Thickens looking after him
+intently as he walked down the street.
+
+"He wouldn't dare!" said Thickens to himself thoughtfully.  "He would
+not dare.  I wish he had not been going to tell him, though.  Humph!
+dropping in to see poor old Gemp because he has had a fit."
+
+He paused till he had seen Bayle enter the old man's house, and then
+went on muttering to himself.
+
+"I never could understand why Gemp was made; he never seems to have been
+of the least use in the world, though, for the matter of that, idlers
+don't seem much good.  Hah!  If Gemp knew what I know, there'd be a
+crowd round the bank in half-an-hour, and they'd have Hallam's house
+turned inside out in another quarter.  I don't like his telling Hallam
+about his going," he mused.  "It's a large sum of money, though I made
+light of it, and the mail's safe enough.  We've about got by the old
+highwayman days, but I wish he hadn't told him, all the same."
+
+Meanwhile the curate had turned in at Gemp's to see how the old fellow
+was getting on.
+
+"Nicedly, sir, very nicedly," said the woman in charge; "he've had a
+beautiful sleep, and Doctor Luttrell says he be coming round to his
+senses fast."
+
+Poor old Gemp did not look as if he had been progressing nicely, but he
+seemed to recognise his visitor, and appeared to understand a few of his
+words.
+
+But not many, for the old man kept putting his hand to his head and
+looking at the door, gazing wistfully through the window, and then
+heaving a heavy sigh.
+
+"Oh, don't you take no notice o' that, sir," said the woman; "that be
+only his way.  He's been used to trotting about so much that he feels it
+a deal when he is laid up, poor old gentleman; he keeps talking about
+his money, too, sir.  Ah, sir, it be strange how old folks do talk about
+their bit o' money when they're getting anigh the time when they won't
+want any of it more."
+
+And so on till the curate rose and left the cottage.
+
+That night he was on his way to London, after sending a line to Hallam
+to say that upon second thoughts he had considered it better to go up to
+town alone.
+
+Three days passed with nothing more exciting than a few inquiries after
+Hallam's health, the most assiduous inquirer being Miss Heathery, who
+called again on the third evening.
+
+"I know you think me a very silly little woman, Millicent, my dear, and
+I'm afraid that perhaps I am, but I do like you, and I should like to
+help you now you are in trouble."
+
+"I always did, and always shall, think you one of my best and kindest
+friends, Miss Heathery," replied Millicent, kissing her.
+
+"Now, that's very kind of you, my dear.  It's touching," said Miss
+Heathery, wiping her eyes.  "You do think me then a very dear friend?"
+she said, clinging to Mrs Hallam, and gazing plaintively in her face.
+
+"Indeed I do."
+
+"Then may I make a confidant like of you, dear?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," said Millicent.
+
+"But first of all, can I help you nurse Mr Hallam, or take care of
+Julie?"
+
+"Oh, no, thank you.  Mr Hallam is much better, and Julie is happiest
+with Thisbe."
+
+"Or Mr Bayle," said Miss Heathery; "but I have not seen her with him
+lately.  Oh, I forgot, he has gone to London."
+
+"Indeed!" said Millicent, starting, for she connected his absence with
+her husband's trouble.
+
+"Yes; gone two, three days; but, Millicent dear, may I speak to you
+plainly?"
+
+"Of course.  Tell me," said Millicent smiling, and feeling amused as she
+anticipated some confidence respecting an engagement.
+
+"And you are sure you will not feel hurt?"
+
+"Trust me, I shall not," said Millicent, with her old grave smile.
+
+"Well then, my dear," whispered the visitor, "it is about money matters.
+You know I have none in the bank now, because I bought a couple of
+houses, but I have been asking, and I find that I can borrow some money
+on the security, and I thought--there!  I knew you would feel hurt."
+
+For Millicent's eyes had begun to dilate, and she drew back from her
+visitor.
+
+"I only meant to say that I could not help knowing you--that Mr Hallam
+kept you--oh!  I don't know how to say it, Millicent dear, but--but if
+you would borrow some money of me, dear, it would make me so very
+happy."
+
+The tears sprang to Millicent's eyes as she rose and kissed her visitor.
+
+"Thank you, dear Miss Heathery," she cried.  "I shall never forget this
+unassuming kindness, but it is impossible that I can take your help."
+
+"Oh, dear me!  I was afraid you would say so, and yet it is so sad to
+run short.  Couldn't you really let me help you, my dear?"
+
+"No, it is impossible," said Millicent, smiling gently.  "Is it quite
+impossible?" said Miss Heathery.
+
+"Yes, dear; but believe me, if I were really in great need I would come
+to you for help."
+
+"You promise me that, dear?" cried the little woman, rising.
+
+"I promise you that," said Millicent, and her visitor went away
+overjoyed.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+ROBERT HALLAM WANTS FRESH AIR.
+
+"That woman seemed as if she would never go," said Hallam, entering the
+room hastily, and glancing at the clock.
+
+"She does like to stop and chat," replied Millicent, wondering at his
+manner.  "What are you going to do?"
+
+"I am off for a short run.  I cannot bear this confinement any longer.
+It is dark, and no one will see me if I go out for a change."
+
+"Shall I go with you?"
+
+"Go with me!  No, not now," he said hastily.  "I want a little fresh
+air.  Don't stop me.  I shall be back soon."
+
+His manner seemed very strange, but Millicent said nothing, only
+followed him into the hall.
+
+"No, no," he said hastily; "don't do that.  It is as if you were
+watching me."
+
+She drew back in a pained way, and he followed her.
+
+"I'm pettish and impatient, that's all," he said smiling; and, closing
+the door after her, he hurriedly put on a cloak and travelling cap,
+muffling his face well; and then going softly out, and turning from the
+main street, he was soon after in the lane that led down by Thickens's
+house and the mill.
+
+"At last!" said a voice from the hedge-side, just beyond where the last
+oil lamp shed a few dim rays across the road.  "I thought you were never
+coming."
+
+"Don't talk.  Have you everything ready?"
+
+"Yes, everything.  It is only a cart, but it will take you easily."
+
+"And are you sure of the road?"
+
+"Certain.  I've done it twice so as to be sure."
+
+"Good horse?"
+
+"Capital.  We can get over the twenty miles in three hours, and catch
+the York coach easily by twelve.  It does not pass before then."
+
+"Mind, Stephen, I'm trusting you in this.  If you fail me--"
+
+"If I fail you!  Bah!  Did I ever fail you?"
+
+"No, never."
+
+"Then don't talk like that.  You've failed me pretty often, all the
+same.  Going?"
+
+"Yes; I must get back."
+
+"What's that--the Castor coach?"
+
+"Yes," said Hallam, starting.  "It's early."
+
+"Don't be longer than you can help; but, I say, have you plenty of money
+for the journey?  I've only a guinea or two left."
+
+"I have enough," said Hallam grimly; and bidding his companion wait
+three hours, and if he did not come then to go back and return the next
+night, Hallam turned to hurry back to the town.
+
+It was intensely dark as he approached the mill, where the stream was
+gurgling and plashing over the waste-water shoot.  In the distance there
+was the oil lamp glimmering, and a light or two shone in the scattered
+cottages, but there was none at Thickens's as Hallam passed.
+
+There was a space of about a hundred yards between Thickens's house and
+the next cottage, and Hallam had about half traversed this when he heard
+a step that seemed familiar coming, and his doubt was put an end to by a
+voice exclaiming, "Mind!  Take care!"
+
+Was it fate that had put this in his way?
+
+He asked himself this as, like lightning, the thought struck him that
+Bayle had just come off the coach--he the sharer in the knowledge of his
+iniquity.
+
+A sharp struggle, and close at hand there was the bridge and the flowing
+river.  It might have been an accident.  But even then there was
+Thickens.  What if he closed with him, and--disguised as he was, Bayle
+could never know--Bayle--the bearer of that heavy sum of money!  He
+intended flight that night; was it fate, he asked himself again, that
+had thrown this in his way?  And as the thoughts flashed through his
+brain, they encountered roughly upon the path, and Hallam's hand touched
+the thick pocket-book in Bayle's breast.
+
+It was a matter of moments.  Even to Hallam it was like an encounter in
+a dream.  A blind desire to possess himself of the money he had touched
+had come over him; and reckless now, half mad, he seized the curate by
+the throat.  There was a furious struggle, a few inarticulate cries, a
+heavy fall, and he was kneeling upon him, and dragging the pocket-book
+from his breast.
+
+All, as it were, in a dream!
+
+Millicent Hallam stood listening at the window to her husband's steps,
+and then pressed her hands to her burning forehead to try and think more
+clearly about her position.  It was so hard to think ill of Bayle; she
+could not do it; and yet her husband had said he was his enemy, and
+fighting against him to destroy him.  Besides, Bayle had not been near
+them for days.  It was so strange that he should go away without telling
+her!
+
+And so, as she stood there, the two currents of thought met--that which
+ran love and trust in her husband, and that which was full of gentle
+sisterly feeling for Bayle; and as they met there was tumult and
+confusion in her brain, till the first current proved the stronger, and
+swept the latter aside, running strongly on towards the future.
+
+"He is my husband, and he trusts me now as I trust him," she said
+proudly.  "It is impossible.  He could do no wrong."
+
+She went up to the bed-room where Julie lay asleep, and stood watching
+the sweet, happy little face for some time, ending by kneeling down,
+taking one of the little hands in hers, and praying fervently for help,
+for guidance, and for protection in the troubled future, that appeared
+to be surrounding her with clouds.
+
+How dense they seemed!  How was it all to end?  Would she be called upon
+by her husband to leave their home and friends, and go far away?  Well,
+and if that were her fate, husband and child were all in all to her, and
+it was her duty.
+
+"He trusts me now," she said smiling; and feeling happier and more at
+rest than she had for months with their petty cares and poverty and
+shame, she bent over and kissed Julie, when the child's arms were
+clasped about her neck and clung there for a moment, before dropping
+listlessly back upon the bed.
+
+Passing her hand over the child's forehead to be sure that she was cool
+and that no lurking fever was there, Millicent went down to the
+dining-room again, to sit and listen for the coming step.
+
+She had heard the coach come and go, but instead of the place settling
+down again into its normal quiet, there seemed to be a great many people
+about, and hurrying footsteps were heard, such as would be at times when
+there was an alarm of fire in the town.
+
+And yet it was not like that.  More, perhaps, as if there were some
+meeting, and the steps died away.
+
+For a moment or two Millicent had been disposed to summon Thisbe, and
+send her to see what was wrong; but on drawing aside the curtains and
+looking out, the street seemed deserted, and though there were a few
+figures in the market-place, they did not excite her surprise.
+
+"I am overwrought and excited," she said to herself.  "Ah! at last."
+
+There was no mistaking that step, and starting up, she ran into the hall
+to admit Hallam, who staggered in, closed the door quickly, and catching
+her hand, half dragged her into the dining-room.
+
+She clung to him in affright, for she could see that the cloak he wore
+was torn and muddied, that his face was ghastly pale, and that as he
+threw off his travelling cap, there was a terrible swelling across his
+forehead, as if he had received some tremendous blow.
+
+"Robert," she exclaimed, "what is the matter?"
+
+"Hush," he said quickly; "be quiet and calm.  Has Thisbe gone to bed?"
+
+"Yes.  Yes, I think so."
+
+"Quick, then; a basin and water, sponge and towel.  I must bathe this
+place."
+
+"Did you fall?" she cried, as she hastily helped him off with the cloak.
+
+"No.  But quick; the water."
+
+She hurried away, shivering with the dread of some new trouble to come,
+but soon returned with the sponge, and busied herself in bathing the
+hurt.
+
+"I was attacked--by some ruffian," said Hallam hoarsely, as the water
+trickled and plashed back in the basin.  "He struck me with a bludgeon
+and left me senseless.  When I came to he was gone."
+
+"Robert, you horrify me!" cried Millicent.  "This is dreadful."
+
+"Might have been worse," he said coolly.  "There, now dry it, and listen
+to me the while."
+
+"Yes, Robert," she said, forcing herself to be firm, and to listen to
+the words in spite of the curious doubting trouble that would oppress
+her.
+
+"As soon as I go upstairs to put a few things together and get some
+papers, you will put on your bonnet and cloak, and dress Julie."
+
+"Dress Julie!"
+
+"Yes," he said harshly, "without you wish me to leave you behind."
+
+"You are going away, then?"
+
+"Yes, I am going away," he said bitterly, "after hesitating, with a
+fool's hesitation, all these days.  I ought to have gone before."
+
+"How strangely you speak!" she said.
+
+"Don't waste time.  Now go."
+
+"One word, love," she whispered imploringly; "do we go for long?"
+
+"No; not for long," he said.  And then, with an impatient gesture:
+"Bah!" he exclaimed; "yes, for ever."
+
+She shrank from him in alarm.
+
+"Well," he said harshly, as he glanced at his injury in the mirror, "you
+are hesitating.  I do not force you.  I am your husband, and I have a
+right to command; but I leave you free.  Do you wish to stay?"
+
+A feeling of despair so terrible that it seemed crushing came over
+Millicent.  To go from the home of her childhood--to flee like this with
+her husband, probably in disgrace, even if only through suspicion--was
+for the moment more than she could bear; and as he saw her momentary
+hesitation, an ugly sneering laugh came upon his face.  It faded,
+though, as she calmly laid her hand upon his arm.
+
+"Am I to take any luggage?" she said.
+
+"Nothing but your few ornaments of value.  Be quick."
+
+She raised her lips and kissed him, and then seemed to glide out of the
+room.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I have been a fool and an idiot not to have gone
+before.  Curse the fellow: who could it be?" he cried, as he pressed his
+hand to his injured forehead.
+
+He took out his keys and opened a drawer in a cabinet, taking from it a
+hammer and cold chisel, and then stood thinking for a few moments before
+hurrying out, and into a little lobby behind the hall, from which he
+brought a small carpet-bag.
+
+"That will just hold it," he said, "and a few of the things that she is
+sure to have."
+
+He turned into the dining-room, going softly, as if he were engaged in
+some nefarious act.  Then he picked up the hammer and chisel, and was
+about to return into the hall, when he heard a low murmur, which seemed
+to be increasing, and with it the trampling of feet, and shouts of
+excited men.
+
+"What's that?" he cried, with his countenance growing ghastly pale; and
+the cold chisel fell to the floor with a clang.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+A HUMAN STORM.
+
+The woman who had been acting the part of nurse to old Gemp was seated
+by the table, busily knitting a pair of blue worsted stockings by the
+light of a tallow candle, and every few minutes the snuff had so
+increased, and began to show so fungus-like a head, that the needles had
+to be left, a pair of snuffers taken out of their home in a niche that
+ran through the stem of the tin candlestick, and used to cut off the
+light-destroying snuff, with the effect that the snuffers were not
+sufficiently pinched to, and a thread of pale blue smoke rose from the
+incandescence within, and certainly with no good effect as far as
+fragrance was concerned.
+
+Old Gemp had become a great deal better.  He had been up and dressed,
+and sat by the fireside for a couple of hours that afternoon, and had
+then expressed his determination not to go to bed.
+
+But his opposition was very slight, and he was got to bed, where he
+seemed to be lying thinking, and trying to recall something which
+evidently puzzled him.  In fact all at once he called his nurse.
+
+"Mrs Preddle!  Mrs Preddle!"
+
+"Yes," said that lady with a weary air.
+
+"What was I thinking about when I was took badly?"
+
+"I don't know," said the woman sourly.  "About somebody else's business,
+I suppose."
+
+Old Gemp grunted, and shook his head.  Then he was silent, and lay
+staring about the room, passing his hand across his forehead every now
+and then, or shaving himself with one finger, with which all at once he
+would point at his nurse.
+
+"I say!" he cried sharply.
+
+"Bless the man! how you made me jump!" cried Mrs Preddle.  "And, for
+goodness' sake, don't point at me like that!  Easy to see you're getting
+better, and won't want me long."
+
+"No, no! don't go away!" he exclaimed.  "I can't think about it."
+
+"Well, and no wonder neither!  Why, bless the man! people don't have bad
+fits o' 'plexy and not feel nothing after!  There, lie still, and go to
+sleep, there's a good soul!  It'll do you good."
+
+Mrs Preddle snuffed the candle again, and made another unpleasant smell
+of burning, but paid no heed to it, fifty years of practice having
+accustomed her to that odour--an extremely common one in those days,
+when in every little town there was a tallow-melter, the fumes of whose
+works at certain times made themselves pretty well-known for some
+distance round.
+
+The question was repeated by old Gemp at intervals all through the
+evening--"What was I thinking about when I was took badly?" and Mrs
+Preddle became irritated by his persistence.
+
+But this made no difference whatever to the old man, who scraped his
+stubbly chin with his finger, and then pointed, to ask again.  For the
+trouble that had been upon his mind when he was stricken hung over him
+like a dark cloud, and he was always fighting mentally to learn what it
+all meant.
+
+"What was it?--what was it?  What was I thinking about?"  Over and over
+and over, and no answer would come.  Mrs Preddle went on with her
+knitting, and ejaculated "Bless the man!" and dropped stitches, and
+picked them up again, and at last grew so angry, that, upon old Gemp
+asking her, for about the hundredth time that night, that same wearisome
+question, she cried out:
+
+"Drat the man! how should I know?  Look ye here, if you--Oh!  I won't
+stand no more of this nonsense?"  She rose and went into the kitchen.
+"Doctor Luttrell said if he got more restless he was to have it," she
+grumbled to herself, "and he's quite unbearable to-night!"
+
+She poured out a double dose from a bottle left in her charge, and
+chuckled as she said to herself, "That'll quiet him for the night."
+
+Old Gemp was sitting up in bed when she returned to the bed-room; and
+once more his pointing finger rose, and he was about to speak, when Mrs
+Preddle interfered.
+
+"There, that'll do, my dear! and now you've got to take this here physic
+directly, to do you good."
+
+The old man looked at her in a vacant, helpless way for a few moments,
+and then his countenance grew angry, and he motioned the medicine aside.
+
+"Oh, come now, it's of no use!  You've got to take it, so now then!"
+
+She pressed the cup towards his lips; but the old man struck at it
+angrily, and it flew across the room, splashing the bed with the
+opium-impregnated liquid, and then shattering on the cemented floor.
+
+"Well, of all the owd rips as ever I did see!" cried the woman.  "Oh,
+you are better, then!"
+
+"What was I thinking about when I was took badly?" cried Gemp, pointing
+as if nothing had happened.
+
+"Oh, about your money in the bank for aught I know!" cried the woman.
+
+"Ha!"
+
+The old man clapped his hands to his forehead, and held them there for a
+few minutes, staring straight before him at the bed-room wall.
+
+He had uttered that ejaculation so sharply that the woman started, and
+recoiled from him, in ignorance of the fact that she had touched the
+key-note that had set the fibres of his memory athrill.
+
+"Why, what's come to you?" she said.  "Sakes, man, you're not worse?"
+
+Old Gemp did not reply for a few moments.  Then, stretching out one
+hand, and pointing at his nurse:
+
+"Go and fetch doctor.  Go at once!  Quick, I say, quick!"
+
+The woman stared in alarm for a few moments, and then, catching her
+bonnet and shawl from a nail, she hurriedly put them on and went out.
+
+"And I've been a-lying here," panted Gemp, sliding his legs out of bed,
+and dressing himself quickly.  "I remember now.  I know.  And perhaps
+all gone--deeds, writings--all gone.  I knew there was something wrong--
+I knew there was something wrong!"
+
+In five minutes he was out in the street, and had reached his friend the
+tailor, who stared aghast at him at first, but as soon as he heard his
+words blazed up as if fire had been applied to tow, and then subsided
+with a cunning look.
+
+"Let's keep it quiet, neighbour," he said; "and go to-morrow morning,
+and see what we can do with Hallam.  Ah!" he cried, as a thought flashed
+across his mind, "he has not been at the bank these three or four days.
+You're right, neighbour, there is something wrong."
+
+Just at that moment, seeing the door open, another neighbour stepped in,
+heard the last words, and saw Gemp's wild, miserly face agitated by the
+horror of his loss.
+
+"What's wrong?" he cried.
+
+"Wrong?  That scoundrel Hallam! that thief! that--"
+
+The new-comer started.
+
+"Don't say there's owt wrong wi' Dixons'!" he panted.
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried Gemp.  "My deeds! my writings!  I saw parson and
+Thickens busy together.  They were tackling Hallam when I was took
+badly.  Hallam's a rogue!  I warned you all--a rogue! a rogue!  See how
+he has been going on!"
+
+"Neighbour," groaned the new-comer, "they've got all I have in the world
+up yonder in the bank."
+
+"Oh, but it can't be true," said the tailor, with a struggle to catch at
+a straw of hope.
+
+"_Ay_, but it is true," said the last comer, whose face was ghastly;
+"and I'm a ruined man."
+
+"Nay, nay, wait a bit.  P'r'aps Hallam has only been ill."
+
+"Ill?  It was he, then, I'll swear, I saw to-night, walk by me in a
+cloak and cap.  He were going off.  Neighbours, are we to sit still and
+bear a thing like this?"
+
+"I'll hev my writings!  I'll hev my writings!" cried Gemp hoarsely, as
+he clawed at the air with his trembling hands.
+
+"Is owt wrong?" said a fresh voice, and another of the Castor tradesmen
+sauntered in, pipe in mouth.
+
+In another minute he knew all they had to tell and the light was indeed
+now applied to the tow.  Reason and common-sense were thrown to the
+winds, and a wild, selfish madness took their place.
+
+Dixons', the stable, the most substantial house in the county, the
+stronghold where the essence of all the property for miles round was
+kept, was now a bank of straw; and the flame ran from house to house
+like the wildfire that it was.  Had an enemy invaded the place, or the
+fire that burns, there could not have been greater consternation.  The
+stability of the bank touched so many; while, as the news flew from
+mouth to mouth, hundreds who had not a shilling in the bank, never had,
+nor ever would have, took up the matter with the greatest indignation,
+and joined in the excitement, and seemed the most aggrieved.
+
+There was nothing to go upon but the old man's suspicion; but that spark
+had been enough to light the fire of popular indignation, and before
+long, in the midst of a score of different proposals, old Gemp started
+for the bank, supported by his two nearest neighbours, and across the
+dim market-place the increasing crowd made its way.
+
+Mr Trampleasure was smoking his evening cigar on the step of the
+private door.  The cigar, a present from Sir Gordon: the permission to
+smoke it there a present from Mrs Trampleasure.
+
+He heard wonderingly the noise of tumult, saw the crowd approaching, and
+prudently went in and shut and bolted the doors, going up to a window to
+parley with the crowd, as the bell was rung furiously, and some one beat
+at the door of the bank with a stick.
+
+"What is it?" he said.
+
+"My deeds! my writings!" cried Gemp.  "I want my deeds!"
+
+"Who's that?  Mr Gemp?  My dear sir, the bank's closed, as you know.
+Come to-morrow morning."
+
+"No, no!  Give the man his deeds.  Here, break down the door!" cried a
+dozen voices; and the rough element that was to be found in King's
+Castor, as well as elsewhere, uttered a shout, and began to kick at the
+panels.
+
+"Come away, Gemp.  We shall get nothing if these fellows break in."
+
+"Look here!" cried a shrill voice at the window; and there was a
+cessation of the noise, as Mrs Trampleasure leaned out.  "We've got
+pistols and blunderbusses here, as you all know, and if you don't be
+off, we shall fire."
+
+"Open the doors then," cried a rough voice.
+
+"We haven't got the keys.  Mr Thickens keeps them."
+
+There was a shout at this, for the crowd, like all crowds, was ready to
+snatch at a change, and away they ran towards the mill.
+
+In five minutes though, they were tearing back, failing to find
+Thickens; and a cry had been raised by the man with the rough voice, and
+one of the poorest idlers of the town, the keenest redresser of wrong
+now.
+
+"Hallam's!  To Hallam's!" he yelled.  "Hev him out, lads.  We'll hev him
+out.  Hurray, lads, come on!"
+
+The tradesmen and depositors at Dixons' Bank looked aghast now at the
+mischief done.  They saw how they had opened a crack in the dam, and
+that the crack had widened, the dam had given way, and the turbulent
+waters were about to carry all before them.
+
+It was in vain to speak, for the indignant poor were in the front, and
+the tailor, Gemp, and others who had been the leaders in the movement
+found themselves in a pitiful minority, and were ready to retreat.
+
+But that was impossible.  They were in the crowd, and were carried with
+them across the market-place and down the street, to Hallam's house,
+where they beat and thumped at the door.
+
+There was no answer for a few minutes, and they beat and roared.  Then
+some one threw a stone and smashed a pane of glass.  This earned a
+cheer, and a shower of stones followed, the panes shivering and tinkling
+down inside and out of the house.
+
+Millicent was wrong when she said that Thisbe had gone to bed, for that
+worthy was having what she called a quiet read in her room, and now as
+the windows were breaking, and Millicent was shielding Julie whom,
+half-awake, she had just dressed, there was an increase in the roar, for
+Thisbe had gone down, more indignant than alarmed, and thrown open the
+door.
+
+Then there was a dead silence, the silence of surprise, as Thisbe stood
+in the doorway, and as a great hulking lad strove to push by her, struck
+him a sounding slap on the face.
+
+There was a yell of laughter at this, and silence again, as the woman
+spoke.
+
+"What do you want?" she cried boldly.
+
+"Hallam!  Hallam!  In with you, lads: fetch him out."
+
+"No, no; stop! stop!  My deeds, my writings!" shrieked Gemp; but his
+voice was drowned in the yelling of the mob, who now forced their way
+in, filling the hall, the dining and drawing-rooms, and then making for
+the old-fashioned staircase.
+
+"He's oop-stairs, lads; hev him down!" cried the leader, and the men
+pressed forward, with a yell, their faces looking wild and strange by
+the light of the lamp and the candle Thisbe had placed upon a bracket by
+the stairs.
+
+But here their progress was stopped by Millicent, who, pale with dread,
+but with a spot as of fire in either cheek, stood at the foot of the
+staircase, holding the frightened child to her side, while Thisbe forced
+her way before her.
+
+"What do you want?" she cried firmly.
+
+"Thy master, missus.  Stand aside, we won't hurt thee.  We want Hallam."
+
+"What do you want with him?" cried Millicent again.
+
+"We want him to give oop the money he's stole, and the keys o' bank.
+Stand aside wi' you.  Hev him down."
+
+There was a rush, a struggle, and Millicent and her shrieking child were
+dragged down roughly, but good-humouredly, by the crowd that filled the
+hall, while others kept forcing their way in.  As for Thisbe, as she
+fought and struck out bravely, her hands were pinioned behind her, and
+the group were held in a corner of the hall, while with a shout the mob
+rushed upstairs.
+
+"Here, let go," panted Thisbe to the men who held her.  "I won't do so
+any more.  Let me take the bairn."
+
+The men loosed her at once, and they formed a ring about their
+prisoners.
+
+"Let me have her, Miss Milly," she whispered, and she took Julie in her
+arms, while Millicent, freed from this charge, made an effort to get to
+the stairs.
+
+"Nay, nay, missus.  Thou'rt better down here," said one of her gaolers
+roughly; and the trembling woman was forced to stay, but only to keep
+imploring the men to let her pass.
+
+Meanwhile the mob were running from room to room without success; and at
+each shout of disappointment a throb of hope and joy made Millicent's
+heart leap.
+
+She exchanged glances with Thisbe.
+
+"He has escaped," she whispered.
+
+"More shame for him then," cried Thisbe.  "Why arn't he here to protect
+his wife and bairn?"
+
+At that moment a fierce yelling and cheering was heard upstairs, where
+the mob had reached the attic door and detected that it was locked on
+the inside.
+
+The door was strong, but double the strength would not have held it
+against the fierce onslaught made, and in another minute, amidst fierce
+yelling, the tide began to set back, as the word was passed down,
+"They've got him."
+
+Millicent's brain reeled, and for a few moments she seemed to lose
+consciousness; but as she saw Hallam, pale, bleeding, his hair torn and
+dishevelled, dragged down the stairs by the infuriated mob, her love
+gave her strength.  Wresting herself from those who would have
+restrained her, she forced her way to her husband's side, flung her arms
+about him as he was driven back against the wall, and, turning her
+defiant face to the mob, made of her own body a shield.
+
+There was a moment's pause, then a yell, and the leader's voice cried:
+
+"Never mind her.  Hev him out, lads, and then clear the house."
+
+There was a fresh roar at this, and then blows were struck right and
+left in the dim light; the lamp was dashed over; while the curtains by
+the window, where it stood, blazed up, and cast a lurid light over the
+scene.  For a moment the crowd recoiled as they saw the flushed and
+bleeding face of Christie Bayle, as he struck out right and left till he
+had fought his way to where he could plant himself before Millicent and
+her husband, and try to keep the assailants back.
+
+The surprise was only of a few minutes' duration.
+
+"You lads, he's only one.  Come on!  Hallam: Let's judge and jury him."
+
+"You scoundrels!" roared Bayle, "a man must be judged by his country,
+and not by such ruffians as you."
+
+"Hev him out, lads, 'fore the place is burnt over your heads."
+
+"Back! stand back, cowards!" cried Bayle; "do you not see the woman and
+the child?  Back!  Out of the place, you dogs!"
+
+"Dogs as can bite, too, parson," cried the leader.  "Come on."
+
+He made a dash at Hallam, getting him by the collar, but only to
+collapse with a groan, so fierce was the blow that struck him on the
+ear.
+
+Again there was a pause--a murmur of rage, and the wooden support of the
+valance of the curtains began to crackle, while the hall was filling
+fast with stifling smoke.
+
+One leader down, another sprang in his place, for the crowd was roused.
+
+"Hev him out, lads!  Quick, we have him now."
+
+There was a rush, and Hallam was torn from Millicent's grasp--from
+Christie Bayle's protecting arms, and with a yell the crowd rushed out
+into the street, lit now by the glow from the smashed hall windows and
+the fire that burned within.
+
+"My husband!  Christie--dear friend--help, oh, help!" wailed Millicent,
+as she tottered out to the front, in time to see Bayle literally leap to
+Hallam's side and again strike the leader down.
+
+It was the last effort of his strength; and now a score of hands were
+tearing and striking at the wretched victim, when there was the
+clattering of horses' hoofs and a mounted man rode right into the crowd
+with half-a-dozen followers at his side.
+
+"Stop!" he roared.  "I am a magistrate.  Constables: your duty."
+
+The mob fell back, and as five men, with whom was Thickens, seized upon
+Hallam, Millicent tottered into the circle and sank at her husband's
+knees.
+
+"Saved!" she sobbed, "saved!"
+
+For the first time Hallam found his voice, and cried, as he tried to
+shake himself free:
+
+"This--this is a mistake--constables.  Loose me.  These men--"
+
+"It is no mistake, Mr Hallam, you are arrested for embezzlement," said
+the mounted man sternly.
+
+"Three cheers for Sir Gordon Bourne and Dixons'," shouted one in the
+crowd.
+
+Christie Bayle had just time to catch Millicent Hallam in his arms as
+her senses left her, and with a piteous moan she sank back utterly
+stunned.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+WRITHING IN HER AGONY.
+
+"Mother!--father!  Oh, in heaven's name, speak to me!  I cannot bear it.
+My heart is broken.  What shall I do?"
+
+"My poor darling!" sobbed Mrs Luttrell, holding her child to her breast
+and rocking to and fro, while the doctor sat with wrinkled face nursing
+and caressing Julia, who clung to him in a scared fashion, not having
+yet got over the terrors of the past night.
+
+She had her arms about her grandfather, and nestled in his breast, but
+every now and then she started up to gaze piteously in his face.
+
+"Would my dolls all be burnt, grandpa?"
+
+"Oh, I hope not, my pet," he said soothingly; "but never mind if they
+are: grandpa will buy you some better ones."
+
+"But I liked those, grandpa, and--and is my little bed burnt too?"
+
+"No, my pet; I think not.  I hope not.  They put the fire out before it
+did a great deal of harm."
+
+The child laid her head down again for a few moments, and then looked up
+anxiously.
+
+"Thibs says the bad men tore the place all to pieces last night and
+broke all the furniture and looking-glasses.  Oh! grandpa, I--I--I--"
+
+Suffering still from the nervous shock of the nocturnal alarm, the poor
+child's breast heaved, and she burst into a pitiful fit of sobbing,
+which was some time before it subsided.
+
+"Don't think about it all, my pet," said the doctor, tenderly stroking
+the soft little head.  "Never mind about the old house, you shall come
+and live here with grandpa, and we'll have such games in the old garden
+again."
+
+"Yes, and I may smell the flowers, and--and--but I want our own house
+too."
+
+"Ah, well, we shall see.  There, you are not to think any more about
+that now."
+
+"Why doesn't Mr Bayle come, grandpa?  Did the bad people hurt him very
+much?"
+
+"Oh no, my darling: he's all right, and he punished some of them."
+
+"And when will papa come?"
+
+"Hush, child," cried Millicent in a harsh, strange voice, "I cannot hear
+to hear you."
+
+The child looked at her in a scared manner and clung to her grandfather,
+but struggled from his embrace directly after, and ran to her mother,
+throwing her arms about her, and kissing her and sobbing.
+
+"Oh, my own dear, dear mamma!"
+
+"My darling, my darling!" cried Millicent, passionately clasping her to
+her breast; and Mrs Luttrell drew away to leave them together, creeping
+quietly to the doctor's side, and laying her hand upon his shoulder,
+looking a while in his eyes as if asking whether she were doing wisely.
+
+The doctor nodded, and for a few minutes there was no sound heard but
+Millicent's sobs.
+
+"I wish Mr Bayle would come," said Julia all at once in her silvery
+childish treble.
+
+"Silence, child!" cried Millicent fiercely.  "Father dear, speak to me;
+can you not help me in this trouble?  You know the charge is all false?"
+
+"My darling, I will do everything I can."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know, but every one seems to have turned against us--Sir
+Gordon, Mr Bayle, the whole town.  It is some terrible mistake: all
+some fearful error.  How dare they charge my husband with a crime?"
+
+She gazed fiercely at her father as she spoke, and the old man stood
+with his arms about Mrs Luttrell and his lips compressed.
+
+"You do not speak," cried Millicent; "surely you are not going to turn
+against us, father?"
+
+"Oh!  Milly, my own child," sobbed Mrs Luttrell, running to her to take
+her head to her breast, "don't speak to us like that; as if your father
+would do anything but help you."
+
+"Of course, of course," cried Millicent excitedly; "but there, I must
+put off all this pitiful wailing."
+
+She rose in a quiet, determined way, and wiped her eyes hastily,
+arranged her hair, and began to walk up and down the room.  Then,
+stopping, she forced a smile, and bent down and kissed Julia, sending a
+flash of joy through her countenance.
+
+"Go and look round the garden, darling.  Pick mamma a nice bunch of
+flowers."
+
+"Will you come too, grandpa?" cried the child eagerly.
+
+"I'll come to you presently, darling," said the doctor nodding; and the
+child bounded to the open window with a sigh of relief, but ran back to
+kiss each in turn.
+
+"Now we can speak," cried Millicent, panting, as she forced herself to
+be calm.  "There is no time for girlish sobbing when such a call as this
+is made upon me.  The whole town is against poor Robert; they have
+wrecked and burnt our house, and they have cast him into prison."
+
+"My darling, be calm, be calm," said the doctor soothingly.
+
+"Yes, I am calm," she said, "and I am going to work--and help my
+husband.  Now tell me, What is to be done first?  He is in that dreadful
+place."
+
+"Yes, my child, but leave this now.  I will do all I can, and will tell
+you everything.  You have had no sleep all night; go and lie down now
+for a few hours."
+
+"Sleep! and at a time like this!" cried Millicent.  "Now tell me.  He
+will be brought up before the magistrates to-day?"
+
+"Yes, my child."
+
+"And he must have legal advice to counteract all this cruel charge that
+has been brought against him.  Poor fellow! so troubled as he has been
+of late."
+
+The doctor looked at her with the lines in his forehead deepening.
+
+"If they had given him time he would have proved to them how false all
+these attacks are.  But we are wasting time.  The lawyer, father, and he
+will have to be paid.  You will help me, dear; we must have some money."
+
+The doctor exchanged glances with his wife.
+
+"You have some, of course?" he said, turning to Millicent.
+
+"I?  No.  Robert has been so pressed lately.  But you will lend us all
+we want.  You have plenty, father."
+
+The doctor was silent, and half turned away.
+
+"Father!" cried Millicent, catching his hand, "don't you turn from me in
+my distress.  I tell you Robert is innocent, and only wants time to
+prove it to all the world.  You will let me have the money for his
+defence?"
+
+The doctor remained silent.
+
+"Father!" cried Millicent in a tone of command.
+
+"Hush! my darling; your poor father has no money," sobbed Mrs Luttrell,
+"and sometimes lately we have not known which way to turn for a few
+shillings."
+
+"Oh, father!" cried Millicent reproachfully.  "But there's the house.
+You must borrow money on its security, enough to pay for the best
+counsel in London.  Robert will repay you a hundredfold."
+
+The doctor turned away and walked to the window.
+
+"Father!" cried Millicent, "am I your child?"
+
+"My child! my darling!" he groaned, coming quickly back, "how can you
+speak to me in such a tone?"
+
+"How can you turn from me at such a time, when the honour of my dear
+husband is at stake?  What are a few paltry hundred pounds to that?  You
+cannot, you shall not refuse.  There, I know enough of business for
+that.  The lawyers will lend you money on the security of this house.
+Go at once, and get what is necessary.  Why do you hesitate?"
+
+"My poor darling!" cried Mrs Luttrell piteously, "don't, pray don't
+speak to your father like that."
+
+"I must help my husband," said Millicent hoarsely.  "Yes, yes, and you
+shall, my dear; but be calm, be calm.  There, there, there."
+
+"Mother, I must hear my father speak," said Millicent sternly.  "I come
+to him in sore distress and poverty.  My home has been wrecked by last
+night's mob, my poor husband half killed, and torn from me to be cast
+into prison.  I come to my father for help--a few pitiful pounds, and he
+seems to side with my husband's enemies."
+
+"Milly, my darling, I'll do everything I can," cried the doctor; "but
+you ask impossibilities.  The house is not mine."
+
+"Not yours, father?"
+
+"Hush! hush, my dear!" sobbed Mrs Luttrell.  "I can't explain to you
+now, but poor papa was obliged to sell it a little while ago."
+
+"Where is the money?" said Millicent fiercely.
+
+"It was all gone before--the mortgages," said Mrs Luttrell.
+
+"And who bought it?" cried Millicent.
+
+"Mr Bayle."
+
+There was a pause of a few moments' duration, and then the suffering
+woman seemed to flash out into a fit of passion.
+
+"Mr Bayle again!" she cried.
+
+"Yes, Mr Bayle, our friend."
+
+At that moment there came a burst of merry laughter from the garden, the
+sounds floating in through the open window with the sweet scents of the
+flowers, and directly after Julia, looking flushed and happy, appeared,
+holding Christie Bayle's hand.
+
+Bayle paused as he saw the group within, and then slowly entered.
+
+"Mamma, I knew Mr Bayle would come!" cried Julia excitedly.  "But, oh,
+look at him, he has hurt himself so!  He is so--so--oh, I can't bear it,
+I can't bear it!"
+
+The memories of the past night came back in a flash--the hurried awaking
+from sleep, the dressing, the sounds of the mob, the breaking windows,
+the fire, and the wild struggle; and the poor child sobbed hysterically
+and trembled, as Bayle sank upon his knees and took her to his breast.
+
+There she clung, while he caressed her and whispered comforting words,
+Millicent the while standing back, erect and stern, and Mrs Luttrell
+and the doctor with troubled countenances looking on.
+
+In a few minutes the child grew calm again, and then, without a word,
+Millicent crossed to the fireplace and rang the bell.  It was answered
+directly by the doctor's maid.
+
+"Send Thisbe here," said Millicent sternly.
+
+In another minute Thisbe, who looked very white and troubled, appeared
+at the door, gazing sharply from one to the other.
+
+"Julie, go to Thisbe," said Millicent in a cold, harsh voice.
+
+The child looked up quickly, and clung to Bayle, as she gazed at her
+mother with the same shrinking, half-scared look she had so often
+directed at her father.
+
+"Julie!"
+
+The child ran across to Thisbe, and Bayle bit his lip, and his brow
+contracted, for he caught the sound of a low wail as the door was
+closed.
+
+Then, advancing to her, with his face full of the pity he felt, Bayle
+held out his hand to Millicent, and then let it fall, as she stood
+motionless, gazing fiercely in his face, till he lowered his eyes, and
+his head sank slowly, while he heaved a sigh.
+
+"You have come, then," she said, "come to look upon your work.  You have
+come to enjoy your triumph.  False friend!  Coward!  Treacherous
+villain!  You have cast my husband into prison, and now you dare to meet
+me face to face!"
+
+"Mrs Hallam!  Millicent!" he cried, looking up, his face flushing as he
+met her eyes, "what are you saying?"
+
+"The truth!" she cried fiercely.  "He knew you better than I.  He warned
+me against you.  His dislike had cause.  I, poor, weak, trusting woman,
+believed you to be our friend, and let you crawl and enlace yourself
+about our innocent child's heart, while all the time you were forming
+your plans, and waiting for your chance to strike!"
+
+"Mrs Hallam," said Bayle calmly, and with a voice full of pity, "you do
+not know what you are saying."
+
+"Not know! when my poor husband told me all!--how you waited until he
+was in difficulties, and then plotted with that wretched menial Thickens
+to overthrow him!  I know you now: cowardly, cruel man!  Unworthy of a
+thought!  But let me tell you that you win no triumph.  You thought to
+separate us--to make the whole world turn from him whom you have cast
+into prison.  You have succeeded in tightening the bonds between us.
+The trouble will pass as soon as my husband's innocency is shown, while
+your conduct will cling to you, and show itself like some stain!"
+
+A look as angry as her own came over his countenance, but it passed in a
+moment, and he said gravely: "I came to offer you my sympathy and help
+in this time of need."
+
+"Your help, your sympathy!" cried Millicent scornfully.  "You, who
+planned, here, in my presence, with Sir Gordon, my husband's ruin!
+Leave this house, sir!  Stay!  I forgot.  By your machinations you are
+master here.  Mother, father, let us go.  The world is wide, and heaven
+will not let such villainy triumph in the end."
+
+"Oh, hush! hush!" exclaimed Bayle sternly.  "Mrs Hallam, you know not
+what you say.  Doctor, come on to me, I wish to see you.  Dear Mrs
+Luttrell, let me assist you all I can.  Good-bye!  God help you in your
+trouble.  Good-bye!"
+
+He bent down and kissed the old lady; and as he pressed her hand she
+clung to his, and kissed it in return.
+
+"Good-bye, Mrs Hallam," he said, holding out his hand once more.
+
+She turned from him with a look of disgust and loathing, and he went
+slowly out, as he had come, with his head bent, along the road, and on
+to the market-place.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+A CRITICAL TIME.
+
+There was only one bit of business going on in King's Castor that
+morning among the mechanics, and that was where two carpenters were busy
+nailing boards across the gaping windows and broken door of Hallam's
+house.
+
+The ivy about the hall window was all scorched, and the frames of that
+and two windows above were charred, but only the hall, staircase, and
+one room had been burned before the fire was extinguished.  The greater
+part of the place, though, was a wreck, the mob having wreaked their
+vengeance upon the furniture when Hallam was snatched from their hands
+by the law; and for about an hour the self-constituted avengers of the
+customers at Dixons' Bank had behaved like Goths.
+
+It was impossible for work to go on with such a night to canvass.  One
+group, as Bayle approached, was watching the little fire-engine, and the
+drying of its hose which was hauled up by one end over the branch of an
+oak-tree at Poppin's Corner.
+
+There was nothing to see but the little, contemptible, old-fashioned
+pump on wheels; still fifty people, who had seen it in the belfry every
+Sunday as they went to church, stopped to stare at it now.
+
+But the great group was round about the manager's house, many of them
+being the idlers and scamps of the place, who had been foremost in the
+destruction.
+
+The public-houses had their contingents; and then there were the farmers
+from all round, who had driven in, red-hot with excitement; and, as soon
+as they had left their gigs or carts in the inn-yard, were making their
+way up to the bank.
+
+Some did not stop to go to the inn, but were there in their conveyances,
+waiting for the bank to open, long before the time, and quite a murmur
+of menace arose, when, to the very moment, James Thickens, calm and cool
+and drab as usual, threw open the door, to be driven back by a party of
+those gathered together.
+
+Fortunately the news had spread slowly, so that the crowd was not large;
+but it was augmented by a couple of score of the blackguards of the
+place, hungry-eyed, moist of lip, and ready for any excuse to leap over
+the bank counter and begin the work of plunder.
+
+For the first time in his life James Thickens performed that feat--
+leaping over the counter to place it between himself and the clamorous
+mob, who saw Mr Trampleasure there and Sir Gordon Bourne in the
+manager's room, with the door open, and something on the table.
+
+"Here--Here"--"Here--Me"--"No, me."
+
+"I was first."
+
+"No, me, Thickens."
+
+"My money."
+
+"My cheque."
+
+"Change these notes."
+
+The time was many years ago, and there were no dozen or two of county
+constabulary to draft into the place for its protection.  Hence it was
+that as Thickens stood, cool and silent, before the excited crowd, Sir
+Gordon, calm and stern, appeared in the doorway with a couple of pistols
+in his left hand, one held by the butt, the other by the barrel passed
+under his thumb.
+
+"Silence!" he cried in a quick, commanding tone.
+
+"I am prepared--"
+
+"Yah!  No speeches.  Our money!  Our--"
+
+"Silence!" roared Sir Gordon.  "We are waiting to pay all demands."
+
+"Hear, hear!  Hooray!" shouted one of the farmers, who had come in hot
+haste, and his mottled face grew calm.
+
+"But we can't--"
+
+"Yah--yah!" came in a menacing yell.
+
+"Over with you, lads!" cried a great ruffian, clapping his hands on the
+counter and making a spring, which the pressure behind checked and
+hindered, so that he only got one leg on the counter.
+
+"Back, you ruffian!" cried Sir Gordon, taking a step forward, and, quick
+as lightning, presenting a pistol at the fellow's head.  "You, Dick
+Warren, I gave you six months for stealing corn.  Move an inch forward,
+and as I am a man I'll fire."
+
+There was a fierce murmur, and then a pause.
+
+The great ruffian half crouched upon the counter, crossing his eyes in
+his fear, and squinting crookedly down the pistol barrel, which was
+within a foot of his head.
+
+"I say, gentlemen and customers, that Mr Thickens here is waiting to
+pay over all demands on Dixons' Bank."
+
+"Hear, hear!" cried the farmer who had before spoken.
+
+"But there are twenty or thirty dirty ruffians among you, and people who
+do not bank with us, and I must ask you to turn them out."
+
+There was a fierce murmur here, and Sir Gordon's voice rose again high
+and clear.
+
+"Mr Trampleasure, you will find the loaded firearms ready in the upper
+room.  Go up, sir, and without hesitation shoot down the first scoundrel
+who dares to throw a stone at the bank."
+
+"Yes, Sir Gordon," said Trampleasure, who dared not have fired a piece
+to save his life, but who gladly beat a retreat to the first-floor
+window, where he stood with one short blunderbuss in his hand, and Mrs
+Trampleasure with the other.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," cried Sir Gordon, "I am waiting for you to clear the
+bank."
+
+There was another fierce growl at this; but the mottled-faced farmer,
+who had ridden in on his stout cob, and who carried a hunting crop with
+an old-fashioned iron hammer head, spat in his fist, and turned the
+handle--
+
+"Now, neighbours and friends as is customers!" he roared in a stentorian
+voice, "I'm ready when you are."  As he spoke he caught the man half on
+the counter by the collar, and dragged him off.
+
+"Here, keep your hands off me!"
+
+"Yow want to fight, yow'd--"
+
+"Yah! hah!"
+
+Then a scuffling and confused growl, and one or two appeals to sticks
+and fists; but in five minutes every man not known as a customer of the
+bank was outside, and the farmers gave a cheer, which was answered by a
+yell from the increasing mob, a couple of dozen of whom had stooped for
+stones and began to flourish sticks.
+
+But the stout farmer, who was on the steps between the two pillars that
+flanked the entrance, put his hand to his mouth, as if about to give a
+view halloo!
+
+"Look out for the bloonder-boosh, my lads."  And then, turning his head
+up to the window where Mr Trampleasure stood, weapon in hand, "Tak' a
+good aim on the front, and gie it 'em--whang!  Mr Trampleasure, sir.
+Thee'll scatter the sloogs fine."
+
+Not a stone was thrown, and by this time James Thickens was busy at work
+cancelling with his quill pen, and counting and weighing out gold.  He
+never offered one of Dixons' notes: silver and gold, current coin of the
+realm, was all he passed over the counter, and though the customers
+pressed and hurried to get their cheques or notes changed, Thickens
+retained his coolness and went on.
+
+At the end of a quarter of an hour the excitement was subsiding, but the
+bank was still full of farmers and tradespeople, the big burly man with
+the hunting crop being still by the counter unpaid.
+
+All at once, after watching the paying over of the money for some time,
+he began hammering the mahogany counter heavily with the iron handle of
+his whip.
+
+"Here, howd hard!" he roared.
+
+Sir Gordon, who had put the pistols on the table, and was sitting on the
+manager's chair, coolly reading his newspaper in full view, laid it
+down, and rose to come to the open glass door.
+
+"Ay, that's right, Sir Gordon.  I want a word wi' thee.  I'm not a man
+to go on wi' fullishness; but brass is brass, and a hard thing to get
+howd on.  Now, look ye here.  Howd hard, neighbours, I hevn't got much
+to saya."
+
+"What is it, Mr Anderson?" said Sir Gordon calmly.
+
+"Why, this much, Sir Gordon and neighbours.  Friend o' mine comes out o'
+the town this morning and says, `If thou'st got any brass i' Dixons'
+Bank, run and get it, lad, for Maester Hallam's bo'ted, and bank's
+boosted oop.'  Now, Sir Gordon, it don't look as if bank hev boosted
+oop."
+
+"Oh, no," said Sir Gordon, smiling.
+
+"Hev Maester Hallam bo'ted, then, or is that a lie too?"
+
+"I am sorry to say that Mr Hallam has been arrested on a charge of
+fraud."
+
+"That be true, then?" said the farmer.  "Well, now, look here, Sir
+Gordon; I've banked wi' you over twanty year, and I can't afford to lose
+my brass.  Tween man and man, is my money safe?"
+
+"Perfectly, Mr Anderson."
+
+"That'll do, Sir Gordon," said the farmer, tearing up the cheque he held
+in his hand, and scattering it over his head.  "I'll tak' Sir Gordon's
+word or Dixons' if they say it's all right.  I don't want my brass."
+
+"Gentlemen," said Sir Gordon, flashing slightly, "if you will trust me
+and my dear old friend Mr Dixon, you shall be paid all demands to the
+last penny we have.  I am sorry to say that I have discovered a very
+heavy defalcation on the part of our late manager, and the loss will be
+large, but that loss will fall upon us, gentlemen, not upon you."
+
+"But I want my deeds, my writings," cried a voice.  "I'm not a-going to
+be cheated out o' my rights."
+
+"Who is that?" said Sir Gordon.
+
+"Mr Gemp, Sir Gordon," said Thickens quickly.  "Deposit of deeds of row
+of houses in Rochester Close; and shares."
+
+"Mr Gemp," said Sir Gordon, "I am afraid your deeds are amongst others
+that are missing."
+
+"Ay!  Ay!  Robbers!  Robbers!" shouted Gemp excitedly.
+
+"No, Mr Gemp, we are not robbers," said Sir Gordon.  "If you will
+employ your valuer, I will employ ours; and as soon as they have decided
+the amount, Mr James Thickens will pay you--to-day if you can get the
+business done, and the houses and shares are Dixons'."
+
+"Hear, hear, hear," shouted Anderson.  "There, neighbour, he can't say
+fairer than that."
+
+"Nay, I want my writings, and I don't want to sell.  I want my writings.
+I'll hev 'em too."
+
+"Shame on you, Gemp," said a voice behind him.  "Three days ago you were
+at death's door.  Your life was spared, and this is the thank-offering
+you make to your neighbours in their trouble."
+
+"Nay, don't you talk like that, parson, thou doesn't know what it is to
+lose thy all," piped Gemp.
+
+"Lose?" cried Bayle, who had entered the bank quietly to see Sir Gordon.
+"Man, I have lost heavily too."
+
+Thickens was making signs to him now with his quill pen.
+
+"Ay, but I want my writings.  I'll hev my writings," cried Gemp.
+"Neighbours, you have your money.  Don't you believe 'em.  They're
+robbers."
+
+"If I weer close to thee, owd Gemp, I'd tak' thee by the scruff and the
+band o' thy owd breeches and pitch thee out o' window.  Sir Gordon's
+ready to do the handsome thing."
+
+"Touch me if you dare," cried old Gemp.  "I want my writings.  It was
+bank getting unsafe made me badly.  You neighbours have all thy money
+out, for they haven't got enough to last long."
+
+There was a fresh murmur here, and Sir Gordon looked anxious.  Mr
+Anderson stood fast; but it was evident that a strong party were waiting
+for their money, and more than one began to twitch Thickens by the
+sleeve, and present cheques and notes.
+
+Thickens paid no heed, but made his way to where Christie Bayle was
+standing, and handed him a pocket-book.
+
+"Here," he said.  "I couldn't come to you.  I had to watch the bank."
+
+"My pocket-book, Thickens?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I was just in time to knock that scoundrel over as he was
+throttling you.  I'd come to meet the coach."
+
+"Why, Thickens!" cried Bayle, flushing--"Ah, you grasping old miser!
+What! turn thief?"
+
+The latter was to old Gemp, who saw the pocket-book passed, and made a
+hawk-like clutch at it, but his wrist was pinned by Bayle, who took the
+pocket-book and slipped it into his breast.
+
+"It's my papers--it's writings--it's--"
+
+His voice was drowned in a clamour that arose, as about twenty more
+people came hurrying in at the bank-door, eager to make demands for
+their deposits.
+
+Sir Gordon grew pale, for there was not enough cash in the house to meet
+the constant demand, and he had hoped that the ready payment of a great
+deal would quiet the run.
+
+The clamour increased, and it soon became evident that the dam had given
+way, and that nothing remained but to go on paying to the last penny in
+the bank, while there was every possibility of wreck and destruction
+following.
+
+"Howd hard, neighbours," cried Anderson; "Sir Gordon says it's all
+right.  Dixons' 'll pay."
+
+"Dixons' can't pay," shouted a voice.  "Hallam's got everything, and the
+bank's ruined."
+
+There was a roar here, and the fire seemed to have been again applied to
+the tow.  Thickens looked in despair at Bayle, and then with a quick
+movement locked the cash drawer, and clapped the key in his pocket.  The
+action was seen.  There was a yell of fury from the crowd in front, and
+a dozen hands seized the clerk.
+
+Sir Gordon darted forward, this time without pistols, and hands and
+sticks were raised, when in a voice of thunder Christie Bayle roared:
+
+"Stop!"
+
+There was instant silence, for he had leaped upon the bank counter.
+
+"Stand back!" he said, "and act like Christian men, and not like wild
+beasts.  Dixons' Bank is sound.  Look here!"
+
+"It's failed! it's failed!" cried a dozen voices.
+
+"It has not failed," shouted Bayle.  "Look here: I have been to London."
+
+"Yes, we know."
+
+"To fetch twenty-one thousand pounds--my own property!"
+
+There was dead silence here.
+
+"Look! that is the money, all in new Bank of England notes."
+
+He tore them out of the large pocket-book.
+
+"To show you my confidence in Dixons' Bank and in Sir Gordon Bourne's
+word, I deposit this sum with them, and open an account.  Mr Thickens,
+have the goodness to enter this to my credit; I'll take a chequebook
+when you are at liberty."
+
+He passed the sheaf of rustling, fluttering, new, crisp notes to the
+cashier, and then, taking Sir Gordon's offered hand, leaped down inside
+the counter of the bank.
+
+"There, Sir Gordon," he said, with a smile, "I hope the plague is
+stayed."
+
+"Christie Bayle," whispered Sir Gordon huskily, "Heaven bless you!  I
+shall never forget this day!"  Half-an-hour later the bank business was
+going on as usual, but the business of the past night and morning was
+more talked of than before.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+IN MISERY'S DEPTHS.
+
+One of many visits to the gloomy, stone-built, county gaol where Hallam
+was waiting his trial--for all applications for the granting of bail had
+been set aside--Millicent had insisted upon going alone, but without
+avail.
+
+"No, Miss Milly, you may insist as long as you like; but until I'm
+berried, I'm going to keep by you in trouble, and I shall go with you."
+
+"But Thibs, my dear, dear old Thibs," cried Millicent, flinging her arms
+about her neck, "don't you see that you will be helping me by staying
+with Julie?"
+
+"No, my dear, I don't; and, God bless her! she'll be as happy as can be
+with her grandpa killing slugs, as I wish all wicked people were the
+same, and could be killed out of the way."
+
+"But, Thibs, I order you to stay!"
+
+"And you may order, my dear," said Thisbe stubbornly.  "You might order,
+and you might cut off my legs, and then I'd come crawling like the
+serpent in the Scripters--only I hope it would be to do good."
+
+"Oh, you make me angry with you, Thisbe.  Haven't I told you that Miss
+Heathery has been pressing to come this morning, and I refused her?"
+
+"Why, of course you did, my dear," replied Thisbe contemptuously.  "Nice
+one she'd be to go with you, and strengthen and comfort you!  Send her
+to your pa's greenhouse to turn herself into a pot, and water the plants
+with warm water, and crying all over, and perhaps she'd do some good;
+but to go over to Lindum!  The idea!  Poor little weak thing!"
+
+"But, Thisbe, can you not see that this is a visit that I ought to pay
+alone?"
+
+"No, miss."
+
+"But it is: for my husband's sake."
+
+"Every good husband who had left his wife in such trouble as you're in
+would be much obliged to an old servant for going with you all that long
+journey.  There, miss, once for all--you may go alone, if you like, but
+I shall follow you and keep close to you all the time, and sit down at
+the prison gate."
+
+"Oh, hush, Thibs!" cried Millicent, with a spasm of pain convulsing her
+features.
+
+"Yes, miss, I understand.  And now I'm going.  I shan't speak a word to
+you; I shan't even look at you, but be just as if I was a nothing, and
+all the same I'm there ready for you to hear, and be a comfort in my
+poor way, so that you may lean on me as much as you like; and, please
+God, bring us all well out of our troubles.  Amen."
+
+Poor Thisbe's words were inconsequent, but they were sincere, and she
+followed her mistress to the coach, and then through the hilly streets
+of the old city, and finally, as she had suggested, seated herself upon
+a stone at the prison gates while her mistress went in.
+
+The sound of lock and bolt chilled Millicent; the aspect of the gloomy,
+high-walled enclosure, with the loose bricks piled on the top to show
+where the wall had been tampered with, and to hinder escape, the very
+aspect, too, of the governor's house, with its barred windows to keep
+prisoners out, as the walls were to keep them in--a cage within a cage--
+made her heart sink, and when after traversing stone passages, and
+hearing doors locked and unlocked, she found herself in the presence of
+her husband, her brain reeled, a mist came before her eyes, and for a
+while her tongue refused to utter the words she longed to speak.
+
+"Humph!" said Hallam roughly.  "You don't seem very glad to see me."
+
+Her reproachful eyes gave him the lie; and, looking pale, anxious, and
+terribly careworn, he began to pace the floor.
+
+The careful arrangement of the hair, the gentlemanly look, seemed to
+have given place to a sullen, half-shrinking mien, and it was plain to
+see how confinement and mental anxiety had told upon him.
+
+In a few minutes, though, he had thrown off a great deal of this, and
+spoke eagerly to his wife, who, while tender and sympathetic in word and
+look, seemed ever ready to spur him on to some effort to free himself
+from the clinging stain.
+
+This had been her task from the very first.  Cast down with a feeling of
+degradation and sorrow, when the arrest had been made, she had, as we
+know, recoiled.
+
+She had made every effort possible; had gone to her husband for advice
+and counsel, and had ended at his wish by taking the money Miss Heathery
+offered, to pay a good attorney to conduct his case; but on the first
+hearing, she was informed by the lawyer that a gentleman was down from
+town, a barrister of some eminence, who said that he had been instructed
+to defend Mr Hallam, and he declined to give any further information.
+
+The despair that came over Millicent was terrible to witness; but she
+mastered these fits of despondency by force of will and the feverish
+energy with which she set to work.  She visited Hallam, questioning,
+asking advice, instruction, and bidding him try to see his way out of
+the difficulty, till he grew morose and sullen, and seemed to find
+special pleasure in telling her that it was "all the work of that
+parson."
+
+In her feverish state, in the despair with which she had bidden herself
+do her duty to her wronged, her injured husband, she took all this as
+fact, and shutting herself up at Miss Heathery's, refused to read the
+letters Bayle sent to her, or to give him an interview.
+
+It was as if a savage spirit of hate and revenge had taken possession of
+her, and with blind determination she went on her way, praying for
+strength to make her worthy of the task of defending her injured
+husband, and for the overthrow of the cruel enemies who were fighting to
+work his ruin.
+
+And now she was having the last interview with Hallam, for the
+authorities had interfered, she had had so much latitude, and he had
+given her certain instructions which made her start.
+
+"Go to him?" she said, looking up wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, of course," he said sharply; "do you wish me to lose the slightest
+chance of getting off?"
+
+"But, Robert, dear," she said innocently, but with the energy that
+pervaded her speaking, "why not go bravely to your trial?  The truth
+must prevail."
+
+"Oh, yes," he said cynically; "it is a way it has in courts of law."
+
+"Don't speak like that, love.  I want you to hold up your head bravely
+in the face of your detractors, to show how you have been tricked and
+injured, that this man Crellock, whom you have helped, has proved a
+villain--deceiving, robbing, and shamefully treating you."
+
+"Yes," he said; "I should like to show all that."
+
+"Then don't send me to Sir Gordon.  I feel that there is no mercy to be
+expected from either him or Mr Bayle.  They both hate you."
+
+"Most cordially, dear.  By all that's wearisome, I wish they would let
+me have a cigar here."
+
+"No, no; think of what you are telling me to do," she cried eagerly, as
+she saw him wandering from the purpose in hand.  "You say I must go to
+Sir Gordon?"
+
+"Yes.  Don't say it outright, but give him to understand that if he will
+throw up this prosecution of his, it will be better for the bank.  That
+I can give such information as will pay them."
+
+"You know so much about Stephen Crellock?" she said quickly.
+
+"Yes; I can recover a great deal, I am sure."
+
+"And I am to show him how cruelly he has wronged you?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"You desire me to do this; you will not trust to your innocence, and the
+efforts of the counsel?"
+
+"Do you want to drive me mad with your questions?" he cried savagely.
+"If you decline to go, my lawyer shall see Sir Gordon."
+
+"Robert!" she said reproachfully, but with the sweet gentleness of her
+pitying love for the husband irritated, and beyond control of self in
+his trouble, apparent in her words.
+
+"Well, why do you talk so and hesitate?" he cried petulantly.
+
+"I will go, dear," she said cheerfully, "and I will plead your cause to
+the uttermost."
+
+"Yes, of course.  It will be better that you should go.  He likes you,
+Millicent; he always did like you, and I dare say he will listen to you.
+I don't know but what it might be wise to knock under to Bayle.  But
+no: I hate that fellow.  I always did from the first.  Well, leave that
+now.  See Sir Gordon; tell him what I say, that it will be best for the
+bank.  You'll win.  Hang it, Millicent, I could not bear this trial: it
+would kill me."
+
+"Robert!"
+
+"Ah, well, I'm not going to die yet, and it would be very sad for my
+handsome little wife to be left a widow if they hang me, or to exist
+with a live husband serving one-and-twenty years in the bush."
+
+"Robert, you will break my heart if you speak like that," panted
+Millicent.
+
+"Ah, well, we must not do that," he cried laughingly.  "Look here,
+though; this barrister who is to defend me, I know him--Granton, Q.C.
+Did your father instruct him?"
+
+"No: he could not.  Robert, we are frightfully poor."
+
+"Ah! it is a nuisance," he said, "thanks to my enemies; but we'll get
+through.  Now then, who has instructed this man?"
+
+"I cannot tell, dear."
+
+"I see it all," he said; "it's a plan of the enemy.  They employ their
+own man, and he will sell me, bound hand and foot, to the Philistines."
+
+"Oh!  Robert, surely no one would be so base."
+
+"I don't know," he said.  "They want to win.  It's Sir Gordon's doing.
+No, it's Christie Bayle.  I'd lay a thousand pounds he has paid the
+fellow's fees."
+
+"Then, Robert, you will not trust him; you will refuse to let him defend
+you.  Husband, my brave, true, innocent husband," she cried, with her
+pale face flushing, "defend yourself!"
+
+"Hush!  Go to Sir Gordon at once.  Say everything.  I must be had out of
+this, Milly.  I cannot stand my trial."  She could only nod her
+acquiescence, for a gaoler had entered to announce that the visit was at
+an end.
+
+Then, as if in a dream, confused, troubled in spirit, and hardly seeing
+her way for the mist before her eyes, Millicent Hallam followed the
+gaoler back along the white stone passages and through the clanging
+gates, to be shut out of the prison and remain in a dream of misery and
+troubled thought, conscious of only one thing, and that one that a
+gentle hand had taken her by the arm and led her back to where they
+waited for the conveyance to take them home.
+
+"These handsome men; these handsome men!" sighed Thibs, as she sat by
+Julia's bed that night, tired with her journey, but reluctant to go to
+her own resting-place--a mattress upon the floor.  "Oh! how I wish
+sometimes we were back at the old house, and me scolding and stubborn
+with poor old missus, and in my tantrums from morning to night.  Ah!
+those were happy days."
+
+Thisbe shook her head, and rocked herself to and fro, and sighed and
+sighed again.
+
+"My old kitchen, and my old back door, and the big dust-hole!  What a
+house it was, and how happy we used to be!  Ah! if we could only change
+right back and be there once more, and Miss Milly not married to no
+handsome scamp.  Ah! and he is; Miss Milly may say what she likes, and
+try to believe he isn't.  He is a scamp, and I wish she had never seen
+his handsome face, and we were all back again, and then--Oh!--Oh!  Oh!--
+Oh!--Oh!" cried hard, stubborn Thisbe as she sank upon her knees by the
+child's bedside, sobbing gently and with the tears running down her
+cheeks, "and then there wouldn't be no you.  Bless you! bless you! bless
+you!"
+
+She kissed the child as a butterfly might settle on a flower, so tender
+was her love, so great her fear of disturbing the little one's rest.
+
+"Oh! dear me, dear me!" she said, rising and wiping the tears from her
+hard face and eyes, "well, there's whites and blacks, and ups and downs,
+and pleasures and pains, and I don't know what to say--except my
+prayers; and the Lord knows what's best for us after all."
+
+Ten minutes after, poor Thisbe was sleeping peacefully, while, with
+burning brow, Millicent was pacing her bed-room, thinking of the
+morrow's interview with Sir Gordon Bourne.
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+MR GEMP IS CURIOUS.
+
+"I know'd--I know'd it all along," said Old Gemp to his friends, for the
+excitement of his loss seemed now to have acted in an opposite direction
+and to be giving him strength.  "I know'd he couldn't be living at that
+rate unless things was going wrong.  What did the magistrates say?"
+
+"Said it was a black case, and committed him for trial," replied
+Gorringe the tailor.  "Ah, I don't say that clothes is everything, Mr
+Gemp; but a well-made suit makes a gentleman of a man, and you never
+heard of Mr Thickens doing aught amiss."
+
+"Nor me neither, eh, Gorringe? and you've made my clothes ever since
+you've been in business."
+
+The tailor looked with disgust at his neighbour's shabby, well-worn
+garments, and remained silent.
+
+"I'd have been in the court mysen, Gorringe, on'y old Luttrell said he
+wouldn't be answerable for my life if I got excited again, and I don't
+want to die yet, neighbour; there's a deal for me to see to in this
+world."
+
+"Got your money, haven't you?"
+
+"Ye-es, I've got my money, and it's put away safe; but I wanted my
+deeds--my writings.  I've lost by that scoundrel, horribly."
+
+"Ah, well, it might have been worse," said Gorringe, giving a snip with
+his scissors that made Gemp start as if it were his own well-frayed
+thread of life being cut through.
+
+"Oh, of course it might have been worse; but a lot of us have lost, eh,
+neighbour?"
+
+"Dixons' and Sir Gordon have come down very handsome over it," said
+Gorringe, who was designing a garment, as he called it, with a piece of
+French chalk.
+
+"And the parson," said Gemp; "only to think of it--a parson, a curate,
+with one-and-twenty thousand pound in his pocket."
+
+"Ay, it come in handy," said Gorringe.
+
+"Now, where did he get that money, eh?  It's a wonderful sight for a man
+like him," said Gemp, with a suspicious look.
+
+"London.  I heerd tell that he said he had been to London to get it."
+
+"Ay, he said so," cried Gemp, shaking his head, "but it looks
+suspicious, mun.  Here was he hand and glove with the Hallams, always at
+their house and mixed up like.  I want to know where he got that money.
+I say, sir, that a curate with twenty thousand pound of his own is a
+sort o' monster as ought to be levelled down."
+
+The tailor pushed up his glasses to the roots of his hair, and left off
+his work to hold up his shears menacingly at his crony.
+
+"Gemp, old man," he said, "I would not be such a cantankerous,
+suspicious old magpie as you for a hundred pounds; and look here, if
+you're going to pull buttons off the back o' parson's coat, go and do it
+somewhere else, and not in my shop."
+
+"Oh! you needn't be so up," said Gemp.  "Look here," he cried, pointing
+straight at his friend, "what did Thickens say about the writings?"
+
+"Spoke fair as a man could speak," said Gorringe, resuming his
+architectural designs in chalk and cloth, "said he felt uncomfortable
+about the matter first when he saw Hallam give a package to a man named
+Crellock--chap who often come down to see him; that he was suspicious
+like that for two years, but never had an opportunity of doing more than
+be doubtful till just lately."
+
+"Why didn't he speak out to a friend--say to a man like me?"
+
+"Because, I'm telling you, it was only suspicion.  Hallam managed the
+thing very artfully, and threw dust in Thickens's eyes; but last of all
+he see his way clear, and went and told parson.  And just then Sir
+Gordon were suspicious, too, and had got something to go upon, and they
+nabbed my gentleman just as he was going away."
+
+"And do you believe all this?" cried Gemp.
+
+"To be sure I do.  Don't you?"
+
+"Tchah!  I'm afraid they're all in it."
+
+"Ah! well, I'm not; and, as we've nothing to lose, I don't care."
+
+"How did Hallam look?"
+
+"Very white; and, my word! he did give parson a look when he was called
+up to give his evidence.  He looked black at Thickens and at Sir Gordon,
+but he seemed regularly savage with parson."
+
+"Ah, to be sure!" cried Gemp.  "What did I say about being thick with
+parson?  It's my belief that if all had their deserts parson would be
+standing in the dock alongside o' Hallam."
+
+"And it's my belief, Gemp, that you're about the silliest owd maulkin
+that ever stepped!  There, I won't quarrel with thee.  Parson?  Pshaw!"
+
+"Well, thou'lt see, mun, thou'lt see!  Committed for trial, eh?  And how
+about the other fellow!"
+
+"What, Crellock?  Oh, they've got him too.  He came smelling after
+Hallam, who was like a decoy bird to him.  Wanted to see him in the
+cage; and they let him see Hallam, and--"
+
+"Ah, I heard that Hallam told the constable Crellock was worse than he,
+and they took him too.  Yes, I heard that.  Hallo! here comes Hallam's
+maid--doctor's owd lass, Thisbe.  Let's get a word wi' her."
+
+Gemp shuffled out of the tailor's shop, and made for Thisbe, who was
+coming down the street, with her head up and her nose in the air.
+
+"Mornin', good mornin'," he said, with one of his most amiable grins.
+
+"I didn't say it wasn't," said Thisbe sharply; and she went straight on
+to Miss Heathery's, knocked sharply, and waited, gazing defiantly about
+the place the while.
+
+"Well, she's a stinger, she is!" muttered Gemp, standing scraping away
+at his face with his forefinger.  "Do her good to be married, and hev
+some one with the rule over her.  Humph! she's gone.  Now what does she
+want there?"
+
+The answer was very simple, though it was full of mystery to Gemp.
+Thisbe wanted her mistress and the child, who had gone to Miss
+Heathery's after dark, Millicent's soul revolting against the idea of
+staying at the old home now that it was in the possession of Christie
+Bayle, her husband's bitterest foe.
+
+The gossips were quite correct.  Hallam had been examined thrice before
+the county magistrates, and enough had been traced to prove that for a
+long time he had been speculating largely, losing, and making up his
+losses by pledging, at one particular bank, the valuable securities with
+which Dixons' strong-room was charged.  When one of these was wanted he
+pledged another and redeemed it, while altogether the losses were so
+heavy that, had not the old bank proprietors been very wealthy men,
+Dixons' must have gone.
+
+"Now, where's she a-going, neighbour?" said Gemp, scraping away at his
+stubbly face.  "I don't feel up to it like I did, but I shall have to
+see."
+
+Gorringe peered through his glasses and the window at the figure in
+black that had just left Miss Heathery's, leaning on Thisbe's arm for a
+few moments, and then, as if by an effort, drawing herself up and
+walking alone.
+
+The day was lovely, the sky of the deepest blue; the sun seemed to be
+brightening every corner of the whole town, and making the flowers blink
+and brighten, and the sparrows that haunted the eaves to be in a state
+of the greatest excitement.  King's Castor had never looked more
+quaintly picturesque and homelike, more the beau-ideal of an old English
+country town, from the coaching inn with yellow post-chaise outside, and
+the blue-jacketed postboy with his unnecessarily knotted whip, down to
+the vegetable stall at the corner of the market, where old Mrs Dims sat
+on an ancient rush-bottomed chair, with her feet in a brown earthenware
+bread-pancheon to keep them dry.
+
+Mrs Pinet's flower-pots were so red that they seemed like the blossoms
+of her plants growing unnaturally beneath the leaves, and her window,
+and every one else's panes, shone and glittered with the true country
+brilliancy in the morning sun.  Even the grass looked green growing
+between the cobble-stones--those pebbles that gave the town the aspect
+that, being essentially pastoral, the inhabitants had decided, out of
+compliment to their farm neighbours, to pave it with sheep's kidneys.
+
+But there was one blot upon it--one ugly scar, where the yellow deal
+boards had been newly nailed up, and the walls and window-frames were
+blackened with smoke; and it was when passing these ruins of her home
+that Millicent Hallam first shuddered, and then drew herself up to walk
+firmly by.
+
+"Ah!" said Gorringe, making his shears click, "you wouldn't feel happy
+if you didn't know what was going on, would you, neighbour?"
+
+"Eh?  Know?  Of course not.  If it hadn't been for me looking after the
+bank, where would you have all been, eh?"
+
+Gemp spoke savagely, and pointed at the tailor as if he were going to
+bore a hole in his chest.
+
+"Well, p'r'aps you did some good there, Master Gemp; but if you'd take
+my advice, you'd go home and keep yoursen quiet.  I wouldn't get excited
+about nothing, if I was you."
+
+"Humph!  No, you wouldn't, Master Gorringe; but some folk is different
+to others," said Gemp, talking away from the doorway, with his head
+outside, as he peered down the street.
+
+"Hey! look at 'em now!--the curiosity of these women folk!  Here's owd
+Mother Pinet with her neck stretched out o' window, and Barton at the
+shop, and Cross at the `Chequers,' and Dawson the carrier, all got their
+heads out, staring after that woman.  Now, where's she going, I wonder?"
+
+Old Gemp stumped back into the shop, shaving away at his cheek.
+
+"She can't be going over to Lindum to see Hallam, because she went
+yesterday."
+
+The tailor's shears clicked as a corner was taken out of a piece of
+cloth.
+
+"She ain't going up to the doctor's, because he drove by half-an-hour
+ago with the owd lady."
+
+Another click.
+
+"Can't be going for a walk.  Wouldn't go for a walk at a time like this.
+I've often wondered why folk do go for walks, Master Gorringe.  I never
+did."
+
+_Click_!
+
+"Nay, Master Gemp, you could always find enough to see and do in the
+town, eh?"
+
+"Plenty! plenty, mun, plenty!--I've got it!"
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"She's going--Hallam's wife, yonder--to see owd Sir Gordon, and beg
+Hallam off; and, look here, I wean't hev it!"
+
+Gemp banged his stick down upon the counter in a way that made the cloth
+spread thereon rise in waves, and became very broad of speech here,
+though it was a matter of pride amongst the Castor people that they
+spoke the purest English in the county, and were not broad of utterance,
+like the people on the wolds, and "down in the marsh."
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+A PAINFUL MEETING.
+
+Whether Gemp would have it or no, Millicent Hallam was on her way to Sir
+Gordon's quiet, old-fashioned house on the North Road--a house that was
+a bit of a mystery to the Castor children, whose young brains were full
+of conjecture as to what could be inside a place whose windows were
+blanks, and with nothing but a door to the road, and a high wall right
+and left to complete the blankness of the frontage.
+
+It ought to have been called the backage; for Sir Gordon Bourne's house
+was very pleasant on the other side, with a compact garden and flowers
+blooming to brighten it--a garden in which he never walked.
+
+Millicent Hallam pulled at the swinging handle of the bell at Sir
+Gordon's door with the determination of one who has called to demand a
+right.
+
+The door was opened by a quiet-looking, middle-aged man in drab livery,
+whose brown hair and cocoa-nut fibry whiskers, joined to a swinging,
+easy gait, suggested that he would not have been out of place on the
+deck of a vessel, an idea strengthened by an appearance, on one side of
+his face, as if he were putting his tongue in his cheek.
+
+He drew back respectfully before Millicent could say, "Is Sir Gordon at
+home?" allowed her to pass, and then, as Thisbe followed her mistress,
+he gave her a very solemn wink, but without the vestige of a smile.
+
+Thisbe gave her shawl a violent snatch, as if it were armour that she
+was drawing over a weak spot; but Tom Porter, Sir Gordon's factotum, did
+not see it, for he was closing the door and thinking about how to hide
+the fact that his hands were marked with rouge with which he had been
+polishing the plate when the bell rang.
+
+He led the way across the hall, which was so full of curiosities from
+all parts of the globe that it resembled a museum, and, opening a door
+at the end, ushered Millicent into Sir Gordon's library, a neatly kept
+little room with a good deal of the air of a captain's cabin in its
+furnishing; telescopes, compasses, and charts hung here and there, in
+company with books of a maritime character, while one side of the place
+was taken up by a large glass case containing a model of "The _Sea
+Dream_ schooner yacht, the property of Gordon Bourne."  So read an
+inscription at the foot, engraved upon a brass plate.
+
+Millicent remained standing with her veil down, while Tom Porter
+retired, closed the door, and, after giving notice of the arrival, went
+back into the hall, where Thisbe was standing in a very stern,
+uncompromising fashion.
+
+Sir Gordon's man wanted to arrange his white cravat, but his fingers
+were red, and for the same reason he was debarred from pushing the
+Brutus on his head a little higher, so that, unable to rearrange his
+plumage, he had to let it go.
+
+He walked straight up to Thisbe, stared very hard at her, breathing to
+match, and then there was a low deep growl heard which bore some
+resemblance to "How are you?"
+
+Thisbe was "Nicely, thank you," but she did not say it nicely; it was
+snappish and short.
+
+Mr Tom Porter did not seem to object to snappish shortness, for he
+growled forth:
+
+"Come below?" and added, "my pantry?"
+
+"No, thank you," was Thisbe's reply, full of asperity.
+
+"Won't you take anything--biscuit?"
+
+"No, I--thank--you," replied Thisbe, dividing her words very carefully;
+and Tom Porter stood with his legs wide apart and stared.
+
+"I would ha' been at sea, if it hadn't ha' been for the trouble yonder,"
+he said, after a pause.
+
+"Ho!"
+
+Tom Porter raised his hand to scratch his head, but remembered in time,
+and turned it under his drab coat tail.
+
+"Very sorry," he said at last, without moving a muscle.
+
+"Thank you," said Thisbe sharply and then.  "You needn't wait."
+
+"Needn't wait it is," said Tom Porter in a gruff growl, and giving one
+hand a sort of throw up towards his forehead, and one leg a kick out
+behind, he went off through a door, perfectly unconscious of the fact
+that Thisbe's countenance had unconsciously softened, as she stood
+admiring the breadth of Tom Porter's shoulders and the general solidity
+of his build.
+
+Meanwhile Millicent stood waiting until a well-known cough announced the
+coming of Sir Gordon, who entered the room and with grave courtesy
+placed a chair for his visitor.
+
+"I expected you, Mrs Hallam," he said with a voice full of sympathy;
+and, as he spoke, he remained standing.
+
+Millicent raised her veil, looked at him with her handsome face
+contracted by mental pain and with an angry, almost fierce glow in her
+eyes.
+
+"You expected me?" she said, repeating his words with no particular
+emphasis or intonation.
+
+"Yes; I thought you would come to an old friend for help and counsel at
+a time like this."
+
+A passionate outburst was ready to rush forth, but Millicent restrained
+it, and said coldly:
+
+"My old friend--my father's old friend."
+
+"Yes," he replied; "I hope a very sincere old friend."
+
+"Then why is my poor injured husband in prison?"  There was a fierce
+emphasis in the words that made Sir Gordon raise his brows.  He looked
+at her wonderingly, as if he had not expected his visitor to take this
+line of argument.
+
+Then he pointed again to a chair.
+
+"Will you not take a seat, Mrs Hallam?" he said gently.  "You have come
+to me then for help?"
+
+"No," she cried, ignoring his request.  "I have come for justice to my
+poor husband, who for the faults of others, by the scheming of his
+enemies, is now lying in prison awaiting his trial."
+
+Sir Gordon leaned his elbow on the chimney-piece, and with his finger
+nails tapped the top of the black marble clock that ticked so steadily
+there.
+
+"You went over to Lindum yesterday to see Hallam?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"He requested you to come and see me?"
+
+"Yes; it was his wish, or--"
+
+"You would not have come," he said with a sad smile upon his lips.
+
+"No.  I would have stood in the place where the injustice of men had
+placed me, and trusted to my own integrity and innocence for my
+acquittal."
+
+Sir Gordon drew a long breath like a sigh of relief.  He had been
+watching Millicent closely, as if he were suspicious either that she was
+playing a part, or had been biassed by her husband.  But the true loving
+trust and belief of the woman shone out in her countenance and rang in
+her words.  True woman--true wife!  Let the world say what it would, her
+place was by her husband, and in his defence she was ready to lay down
+her life.
+
+Sir Gordon sighed then with relief, for even now his old love for
+Millicent burned brightly.  She had been his idol of womanly perfection,
+and he had felt, as it were, a contraction about his heart as the
+suspicion crept in for a moment that she was altered for the worse--
+changed by becoming the wife of Robert Hallam.
+
+"Mrs Hallam--Millicent, my child, what am I to say to you?" he cried at
+length.  "How am I to speak without wounding you?  I would not give you
+pain to add to that which you already suffer."
+
+She looked at him angrily.  His words seemed to her, in her overstrained
+anxiety, hypocritical and evasive.
+
+"I asked you why my husband is cast into prison for the crimes of
+others?"
+
+Sir Gordon gazed at her pityingly.
+
+"You do not answer," she said.  "Then tell me this: Are you satisfied
+with the degradation he has already suffered?  Is he not to be set
+free?"
+
+"Can you not spare me, Mrs Hallam?  Will you not spare yourself?"
+
+"No.  I cannot spare you.  I cannot spare myself.  My husband is
+helpless: the fight against his enemies must be carried on by me."
+
+"His enemies, Mrs Hallam?  Who are they?  Himself and his companions."
+
+"You, and that despicable creature who has professed to be our friend,
+the companion of my child.  I saw you planning it together with your
+wretched menial, Thickens."
+
+Sir Gordon shook his head sadly.
+
+"My dear Mrs Hallam," he said, "you do us all an injustice.  Let us
+change this conversation.  Believe me, I want to help you, your child,
+and your ruined parents."
+
+Millicent started at the last words--ruined parents.  There her ideas
+were obscured and wanting in the clearness with which she believed she
+saw the truth.  But even the explanation of this seemed come at last,
+and there was a scornful look in her eyes as she exclaimed:
+
+"I want no help.  I want justice."
+
+"Then what do you ask of me?" he said coldly, as he felt the
+impossibility of argument at such a time.
+
+"My husband's freedom, your apology, and declaration to the whole world
+that he has been falsely charged.  You can do no more.  It is impossible
+to wipe out this disgrace."
+
+He made a couple of steps towards her, and took her cold hands in his,
+raised them to his lips with tender reverence, and kissed them.
+
+"Millicent, my child," he said, with his voice sounding very deep and
+soft, "do not blame me.  My position was forced upon me, and you do not
+know the sacrifice it has cost me as I thought of you--the sacrifice it
+will be to Mr Dixon and myself to repair the losses we have sustained."
+
+She snatched her hands from his, and her eyes flashed with anger.
+
+Her rage was but of a few moments' duration.  Then she had flung herself
+upon her knees at his feet, and, with clasped hands and streaming eyes,
+sobbed forth:
+
+"I am mad!  I am mad!  I don't know what I say.  Sir Gordon--dear Sir
+Gordon, help us.  It is not true.  He is innocent.  My noble husband
+could not have descended to such baseness.  Sir Gordon, save him! save
+him!--my poor child's father--my husband, whom I love so well.  You do
+not answer.  You do not heed my words.  Is man so cruel, then, to the
+unfortunate?  Can you so treat the girl who reverenced you as a child--
+the woman you said you loved?  Man--man!" she cried passionately, "can
+you not see that my heart is breaking? and yet you, who by a word could
+save him, now look on and coldly turn a deaf ear to my prayers.  Oh,
+fool! fool! fool! that I was to think that help could come from man.
+God, help me now, or else in Thy mercy let me die!"
+
+As she spoke these last words, she threw her head back and raised her
+clasped hands in passionate appeal, while Sir Gordon's lips moved as he
+repeated the first portion of her prayer, and then stayed and stood
+gazing down upon the agonised face.
+
+"Millicent," he said at last, as he raised her from where she knelt, and
+almost placed her in an easy-chair, where she subsided, weak and
+helpless almost as a child, "listen to me."
+
+He paused to clear his voice, which sounded very husky.  Then
+continuing:
+
+"For your sake--for the sake of your innocent child, I promise that on
+the part of Mr Dixon and myself there shall be no harsh treatment, no
+persecution.  Your husband shall have justice."
+
+"That is all I ask," cried Millicent, starting forward.  "Justice, only
+justice; for he is innocent."
+
+"My poor girl!" said Sir Gordon warmly; "there," he cried, with a
+pitying smile, "you see I speak to you as if the past six or seven years
+had not glided away."
+
+"Yes, yes," she said, clinging to his hand, "forget them, and speak as
+my dear old friend."
+
+"I will," he said firmly.  "And believe me, Millicent, if it were a
+question merely of the money--my money that I have lost--I would forgive
+your husband."
+
+"Forgive--"
+
+"I would ignore his defalcation for your sake; but I am not a free agent
+in a case like this.  You do not understand."
+
+"No, no," she said piteously, "everything is contained in one thought to
+me.  They have taken my poor husband and treated him as if a thief."
+
+"Listen, my child," continued Sir Gordon, "I found that the valuable
+documents of scores of the customers of an old bank had been taken away.
+They were in your husband's charge."
+
+"Yes, but he says it can all be explained."
+
+Sir Gordon paused, tightening his lips, and a few indignant words
+trembled on the balance, but he spared the suffering woman's bleeding
+heart, and continued gravely:
+
+"I was bound in honour to consult with my partner at once, and the
+result you know."
+
+"Yes; he was arrested.  You, you, Sir Gordon, gave the order."
+
+"Yes," he said gravely; "had I not, he would have been beaten and
+trampled to death by the maddened crowd.  Millicent Hallam, be just in
+your anger.  I saved his life."
+
+"Better death than dishonour," she cried passionately.
+
+"Amen!" he responded; and in imagination he saw before him the convict's
+cell, and went on picturing a horror from which he turned shuddering
+away.
+
+"Come," he said, "be sure of justice, my child.  And now what can I do
+to help you?  Money you must want."
+
+"No," she said drearily.
+
+"Well; means to procure good counsel for your husband's defence."
+
+"He said that you must have procured the counsel he already has."
+
+"I?  No, my child; no, I did not even think of such a thing.  How could
+I?"
+
+"Who then has paid fees to this man who has been to my husband?"
+
+"I do not know.  I cannot say."
+
+Millicent rose heavily, her eyes wandering, her face deadly white.
+
+"I can do no more here," she said, wringing her hands and passing one
+over the other in a weak, helpless way; and as Sir Gordon watched her,
+he saw a faint smile come over her pinched features.  She was gazing
+down at her wedding ring, which seemed during the past few weeks to have
+begun to hang loosely on her finger.  She raised it reverently to her
+lips, and kissed it in a rapt, absent way, gazing round at last as if
+wondering why she was there.
+
+"Justice!  You have promised justice," she cried suddenly, with a mental
+light irradiating her face.  "I know I may trust you."
+
+"You may," he said reverently, for this woman's love seemed to inspire
+him with awe.
+
+"And you will forgive me--all I have said?" she whispered.
+
+"Forgive you?" he said, taking her hand and speaking gravely.
+"Millicent Hallam has no truer servant and friend than Gordon Bourne."
+
+"No truer servant and friend than Gordon Bourne," he repeated, as he
+returned to his room, after seeing the suffering wife to the door.  "Ah!
+how Heaven's gifts are cast away here and there!  What would my life
+have been if blessed by the love of this man's wife?"
+
+VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+THE VERDICT.
+
+"How is she now, dear Mrs Luttrell--how is she now?"  Miss Heathery
+looked up from out of the handkerchief in which her face was being
+constantly buried, and it would have been hard to say which was the
+redder, eyes or nose.
+
+Poor Mrs Luttrell, who had come trembling down from the bed-room,
+caught at her friend's arm, and seemed to stay herself by it, as she
+said piteously:
+
+"I can't bear it, my dear; I can't bear it.  I was obliged to come down
+for a few minutes."
+
+"My poor dear," whispered little Miss Heathery, who, excluded from the
+bed-room, passed her time in hot water that she shed, and that she used
+to make the universal panacea for woe--a cup of tea--one she
+administered to all in turn.
+
+"You seem so overcome, you poor dear," she whispered; and, helping Mrs
+Luttrell to the couch, she poured out a cup of tea for her with
+kindliest intent, but the trembling mother waved it aside.
+
+"She begged me so, my dear, I was obliged to come out of the room.  The
+doctor says it would be madness; and it is all Thisbe and he can do to
+keep her lying down.  What am I to say to you for giving you all this
+trouble?"
+
+The tears were running fast down Miss Heathery's yellow cheeks, as she
+took Mrs Luttrell's grey head to her bony breast.
+
+"Don't! don't! don't!" she sobbed.  "What have I ever done that you
+should only think me a fine-weather friend?  If I could only tell you
+how glad I am to be able to help dear Millicent, but I can't."
+
+"Heaven bless you!" whispered Mrs Luttrell, clinging to her--glad to
+cling to some one in her distress; "you have been a good friend indeed!"
+
+Just then the stairs creaked slightly, and Thisbe, looking very hard and
+grim, came into the room.
+
+"How is she, Thisbe?" cried Miss Heathery in a quick whisper.
+
+Thisbe shook her head.
+
+"Seems to be dozing a little now, miss; but she keeps asking for the
+news."
+
+"Poor dear! poor dear!" sobbed Miss Heathery, with more tears running
+slowly down her face, to such an extent that if there had been any one
+to notice, he or she would have wondered where they all came from, and
+have then set it down to the tea.
+
+"Sit down, Thisbe," sighed Mrs Luttrell, "you must be worn out."
+
+"Poor soul! yes," said Miss Heathery, and pouring out a fresh cup, she
+took it to where Thisbe--who had not been to bed for a week, watching,
+as she had been, by Millicent's couch--was sitting on the edge of a
+chair.
+
+"There, drink that, Thisbe," said Miss Heathery.  "You're a good, good
+soul!"
+
+As she bent forward and kissed the hard-looking woman's face, Thisbe
+stared half wonderingly at her, and took the cup.  Then her hard face
+began to work, she tried to sip a little tea, choked, set down the cup,
+and hurried sobbing from the room.
+
+For Millicent Hallam, strong in her determination to help her husband,
+had had to lean on Thisbe's arm as they returned from Sir Gordon's house
+that day.  When she reached Miss Heathery's house she was compelled to
+lie down on the couch.  An hour later she began to talk wildly, and when
+her father was hastily summoned she was in a high state of fever.
+
+This, with intervals of delirium and calmness, had gone on ever since,
+up to the day of Robert Hallam's trial.
+
+On the previous night, as Millicent lay holding her child to her
+breast--the little thing having been brought at her wish, to bound to
+the bedside and bury her flushed, half-frightened face in her mother's
+bosom--a soft tap had come to the door below.
+
+Millicent's hearing, during the intervals of the fever and delirium, was
+preternaturally keen, and she turned to her mother.
+
+"It is Mr Bayle!" she said, in a hoarse whisper.  "I know now.  I
+understand all.  It is to-morrow.  I want to know.  Ask him."
+
+"Ask him what, my darling?  But pray be calm.  Remember what your father
+said."
+
+"Yes, yes, I remember; but ask him.  No; of course he must be there.
+Tell Christie Bayle to come to me directly it is over--and bring my
+husband.  Directly, mind.  You will tell him?"
+
+"Yes, yes, my darling," said Mrs Luttrell, with her face working as she
+moved towards the door.
+
+"Stop, mother!" cried Millicent.  "Hush! lie still, Julie; mamma is not
+cross with you.  Mother, tell Christie Bayle to bring me the news of the
+trial the moment it is over.  I can trust him.  He will," she said to
+herself with a smile, as her mother left the room, and delivered the
+message to him who was below.
+
+He left soon after, sick at heart, to join Sir Gordon, and together they
+took their places in the coach, the only words that passed being:
+
+"How is she, Bayle?"
+
+"In the Great Physician's hands," was the reply.  "Man's skill is
+nothing here."
+
+And she of whom they spoke lay listening to the cheery notes of the
+guard's horn, the trampling of the horses, and the rattle of the wheels,
+as the coach rolled away, with James Thickens outside, thinking of the
+horrors of passing the night in a strange bed, in a strange town, and
+wishing the troubles of this case of Hallam's at an end.
+
+The next morning Millicent Hallam insisted upon rising and dressing, to
+go over to Lindum and be present at the trial.
+
+All opposition only irritated her, and at last Thisbe was summoned to
+the room.
+
+"I shall be just outside," whispered the doctor.  "It is better than
+fighting against her."
+
+In less than five minutes he was once more by his child's side, trying
+to bring her back from the fainting fit in which she had fallen back
+upon the bed, for she had learned her weakness, and her utter impotence
+to take such a journey upon an errand like that.
+
+And then the weary day had crept on, with the delirium sometimes seizing
+upon the tottering brain, and then a time of comparative coolness
+supervening.
+
+Dr Luttrell looked serious, and told himself that he was in doubt.
+
+"The bad news will kill her," he said to himself, as he went outside to
+walk up and down Miss Heathery's garden, which was fifteen feet long and
+twelve feet wide, "but very secluded," as its owner often said.
+
+There, with bare head and wrinkled brow, the doctor walked up and down,
+stopping, from habit, now and then to pinch off a dead leaf, or give a
+twist to one of the scarlet runners that had slipped from its string.
+
+The night at last; and the doctor was sitting by the bedside, having
+sent Mrs Luttrell down, and then Thisbe, both utterly worn out and
+unhinged.
+
+Millicent was, as Thisbe had said, dozing; but the fever was high, and
+Dr Luttrell shook his grey head.
+
+"Who'd have thought, my poor flower," he said, "that your young life
+would be blighted like this!"
+
+He could hardly bear his suffering, and, rising from his chair, he stole
+softly into the back room, where Julia was sleeping calmly, the terrible
+trouble affecting her young heart only for the minute, and then passing
+away.
+
+The old man bent down and kissed the sleeping face, and, as her custom
+was, Julia's little arms went softly up and clasped the neck of him who
+pressed her soft cheek, and fell away again, heavy with sleep.
+
+"He will come and tell me the truth."
+
+The words fell clearly on the doctor's ear as he was re-entering the
+sick-room, but Millicent lay apparently sound asleep in the little white
+dimity-hung bed of Miss Heathery's best room, while the soft murmur of
+voices came from below.
+
+Millicent's words were those of truth, for the moment the trial was over
+Christie Bayle had rushed out, and sprung into the post-chaise he had
+had in waiting, and for which changes of horses were harnessed at the
+three towns they would have to pass through to reach King's Castor, over
+thirty miles away, and as fast as horses urged by man could go over the
+rough cross-road, that post-chaise was being hurried along.
+
+The night was settling down dark as the first pair of steaming horses
+were taken out, and a couple of country candles were lit in the battered
+lamps.  Then on and on, uphill slowly, down the far slope at a good
+gallop, with the chaise dancing and swaying about on its C-springs, and
+time after time the whole affair nearly being thrown over upon its side.
+
+"It's too dark to go so fast, sir," remonstrated the wheeler postboy, as
+Bayle leaned his head out of the window to urge him on.
+
+"Ten shillings a-piece, man.  It's for life or death," cried Bayle; and
+the whips cracked, and the horses plunged into their collars, as the
+hedges on either side seemed to fly by like a couple of blurred lines.
+
+"I must get up now, father," said Millicent suddenly.
+
+"My child, no, it is impossible.  You remember this morning?"
+
+"My dressing-gown," she said in a low, decided voice.  "Thisbe will
+carry me down."
+
+"No, no," said Dr Luttrell decidedly.  "You must obey me, child."
+
+"Dear father," she whispered, "if I lie here in the agony of suspense I
+shall die.  I must go down."
+
+"But why, my child?"
+
+"Why," she said.  "Do you think I could bear any one else to hear his
+news but me?"
+
+It was in vain to object, and in the belief that he was doing more
+wisely by giving way, Dr Luttrell summoned Thisbe, and, with Mrs
+Luttrell's help, the suffering woman was partially dressed and borne
+down to the sitting-room.  She bore the change wonderfully, and lay
+there very still and patient, waiting for the next two hours.  The fever
+had greatly abated, and she listened, her eyes half-closed, as if in the
+full confidence that the news for which she hungered would not be long.
+
+Thisbe and Miss Heathery had stolen out into the kitchen to sit and talk
+in whispers as, one by one, the last sounds in the town died out.  The
+shutters here and there had long been rattled up.  The letter-carriers
+from the villages round had all come in, and only a footfall now and
+then broke the silence of the little town.
+
+Ten o'clock had struck, and Doctor and Mrs Luttrell exchanged glances,
+the former encouraging his wife with a nod, for Millicent seemed to be
+asleep.  A quarter-past ten was chimed by the rickety clock in the old
+stone tower, and the only place now where there was any sign of business
+was up at the "George," where lamps burned inside and out, and the
+ostlers brought out two pairs of well-clothed horses ready for the coach
+that would soon be through.  By-and-by there was the rattle of wheels
+and the cheery notes of a horn, but they did not wake Millicent, who
+still seemed to sleep, while there was a little noise of trampling
+hoofs, the banging of coach doors, a few shouts, a cheery "All right!"
+and then the horses went off at a trot, the wheels rattled, and the
+lamps of the mail shone through the drawn-down blind.  Then the sounds
+died away; all was still, and the clock chimed half-past.  As the last
+tones throbbed and hummed in the still night air, Millicent suddenly
+stirred, sat up quickly, and pressed back her hair from her face.
+
+"Help me!  The chair!" she said hoarsely.
+
+"Yes," said the doctor, in answer to Mrs Luttrell's look; and with very
+little aid Millicent left the couch, gathered her dressing-gown round
+her, and sat back listening.
+
+"He will soon be here," she said softly, and she bowed her head upon her
+breast.
+
+She was right, for the horses were tearing over the ground in the last
+mile of the last stage, with Christie Bayle almost as breathless, as he
+sat back pale with excitement, and trembling for the news he had to
+impart.  At the end of the trial and in his desire to keep his word, all
+had seemed strange and confused.  He could feel nothing but that he had
+to get back to King's Castor and tell her all.  It was her command.  But
+now that he was rapidly nearing home, the horror of his position began
+to weigh him down, and he felt ready to shrink from his duty, but all
+the time there was a sensation as if something was urging him on, fast
+as the horses seemed to fly.
+
+The miles had seemed leagues before.  This last seemed not a quarter its
+length; for there was the mill, there Thickens's cottage, there the
+great draper's, the market-place, the "George," before which the horses
+were checked covered with foam.
+
+With the feeling still upon him that he could not bear this news, and
+that it should have been brought by Sir Gordon, who had refused to come,
+he ran across to Miss Heathery's house, and when he reached the door, it
+was opened.  He stepped in and it was closed by Mrs Luttrell, who was
+trembling like a leaf.
+
+"Come here! quick!"
+
+Bayle knew and yet did not recognise the voice, it was so changed; but,
+as in a dream, he went past the little candlestick on the passage
+bracket, and in at the open parlour-door, where the light of the shaded
+globe lamp fell upon Millicent's pale face.
+
+"Father! mother!" she said quickly.  "Leave us.  I must hear the news
+alone!"
+
+The doctor's eyes sought Bayle's, but his face was contracted as he
+stood there, hat and cloak in hand, pale as if from a sick-bed and his
+eyes closed.
+
+Then he and Millicent were alone, and, as if stung by some agonising
+mental pang, he said wildly:
+
+"No, no!  Your father--mother!  Let me tell them."  Millicent rose
+slowly, and laid her hand upon his arm.
+
+"You bear me news of my husband," she said, in an unnaturally calm
+voice.  "I know: it is the worst!"  He made no reply, but looked at her
+beseechingly.  "I can bear it now," she said, shivering like one whom
+pain had ended by numbing against further agony.  "I see it is the
+worst; he is condemned!"  There was a faint smile upon her lips as he
+caught her hands in his.
+
+"You forced me to this," he said hoarsely, "and you will hate me more
+for giving you this pain."
+
+"No," she said, speaking in the same unnaturally calm, strained manner.
+"No: for I have misjudged you, Christie Bayle.  Boy and man, you were
+always true to me.  And--and--he is condemned?"
+
+His eyes alone spoke, and then she tottered as if she would have fallen,
+but he caught her, and placed her in a chair.
+
+"Yes: I know--I knew it must be," she said with her eyes half-closed.
+"Every one will know now!"
+
+"Let me call your father in?" he whispered.
+
+"No: not yet.  I have something to say," she murmured almost in a
+whisper.  "If--I die--my little child--Christie Bayle?  She--she loves
+you!"
+
+Millicent Hallam's eyes filled up the gaps in her feeble speech, and
+Christie Bayle read her wish as if it had been sounded trumpet-tongued
+in his ears.
+
+"Yes; I understand.  I will," he said in a voice that was more
+convincing than if he had spoken on oath.
+
+By that time the news which the postboys had caught as it ran from lip
+to lip, before Christie Bayle could force his way through the crowd at
+Lindum assize court, was flashing, as such news can flash through a
+little inquisitive town like Castor, and, almost at the same moment as
+Christie Bayle made his promise, old Gemp stumbled into Gorringe's shop
+to point at him and pant out:
+
+"Transportation for life!"
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER ONE.
+
+AFTER TWELVE YEARS--BACK FROM A VOYAGE.
+
+"Why, my dear Sir Gordon, I am glad to see you back again.  You look
+brown and hearty, and not a day older."
+
+"Don't--don't shake quite so hard, my dear Bayle.  I like it, but it
+hurts.  Little gouty in that hand, you see."
+
+"Well, I'll be careful.  I am glad you came."
+
+"That's right, that's right.  Come down to my club and dine, and we'll
+have a long talk; and--er--don't take any notice of the jokes if you
+hear any."
+
+"Jokes?"
+
+"Ye-es.  The men have a way there--the old fellows--of calling me
+`Laurel,' and `Yew,' and the `Evergreen.'  You see, I look well and
+robust for my age."
+
+"Not a bit, Sir Gordon.  You certainly seem younger, though, than ever."
+
+"So do you, Bayle; so do you.  Why, you must be--"
+
+"Forty-two, Sir Gordon.  Getting an old man, you see."
+
+"Forty!  Pooh! what's that, Mr Bayle?  Why, sir, I'm--Never mind.  I'm
+not so young as I used to be.  And so you think I look well, eh, Bayle?"
+
+"Indeed you do, Sir Gordon; remarkably well."
+
+"Hah!  That confounded Scott!  Colonel Scott at the club set it about
+that I'd been away for two years so as to get myself cut down and have
+time to sprout up again, I looked so young.  Bah, what does it matter?
+It's the sea life, Bayle, keeps a man healthy and strong.  I wish I
+could persuade you to come with me on one of my trips."
+
+"No, no!  Keep away with your temptations.  Too busy."
+
+"Nonsense, man!  Fellow with your income grinding day after day as you
+do.  But how young you do look!  How is Mrs Hallam?"
+
+"Remarkably well.  I saw her yesterday."
+
+"And little Julie?"
+
+"Little!" said Christie Bayle laughing frankly, and justifying Sir
+Gordon's remarks about his youthful looks.  "Really, I should like to be
+there when you call.  You will be astonished."
+
+"What, has the child grown?"
+
+"Child?  Grown?  Why, my dear sir, you will have to be presented to a
+beautiful young lady of eighteen, wonderfully like her mother in the old
+days."
+
+"Indeed!  Hah! yes.  Old days, Bayle.  Yes, old days, indeed.  The
+thought of them makes me feel how time has gone.  Look young, eh?  Bah!
+I'm an old fool, Bayle.  Deal better if I had been born poor.  You
+should see me when Tom Porter takes me to pieces, and puts me to bed of
+a night.  Why, Bayle, I don't mind telling you.  Always were a good lad,
+and I liked you.  I'm one of the most frightful impositions of my time.
+Wig, sir; confound it! sham teeth, sir, and they are horribly
+uncomfortable.  Whiskers dyed, sir.  The rest all tailor's work.  Feel
+ashamed of myself sometimes.  At others I say to myself that it's
+showing a bold front to the enemy.  No, sir, not a bit of truth in me
+anywhere."
+
+"Except your heart," said Bayle, smiling.
+
+"Tchut! man, hold your tongue.  Now about yourself.  Why don't you get a
+comfortable rectory somewhere, instead of plodding on in this hole?"
+
+"Because I am more useful here."
+
+"Nonsense!  Get a good West-end lectureship."
+
+"I prefer the North here."
+
+"My dear Christie Bayle, you are throwing yourself away.  There, I can't
+keep it back.  Old Doctor Thomson is dead, and if you will come I have
+sufficient interest with the bishop, providing I bring forward a good
+man, to get him the living at King's Castor."
+
+Christie Bayle shook his head sadly.
+
+"No, Sir Gordon," he said, with a curious, wistful look coming into his
+eyes.  "That would be too painful--too full of sad memories."
+
+"Pooh! nonsense, man!  You can't be a curate all your life."
+
+"Why not?  I do not want the payment of a better post in the Church."
+
+"Of course not; but come, say `Yes.'  As to memories, fudge! man, you
+have your memories everywhere.  If you were out in Australia you'd have
+them, same as I dare say a friend of ours has.  Let the past go."
+
+Bayle shook his head.
+
+"I'm thinking of settling down yonder myself.  Getting too old for
+sea-trips.  If you'd come down, that would decide me."
+
+"No, no.  It would never do.  I could not leave town."
+
+"Ah, so you pretend, sir.  I'll be bound that, if you had a good motive,
+you'd be off anywhere, in spite of what you say."
+
+"Perhaps.  Your motive is not strong enough."
+
+"What, not your own interest, man?"
+
+"My dear Sir Gordon, no.  What interest have I in myself?  Why, I have
+been blessed by Providence with a good income and few wants, and for the
+past eighteen years I've been so busy thinking about other people, that
+I should feel guilty of a crime if I began to be selfish now."
+
+"You're a queer fellow, Bayle, but you may alter your mind.  I've made
+up mine that you shall have the old living at King's Castor.  I shan't
+marry now, so I don't want you for that; but, please God I don't go down
+in some squall, I should like you to say `Ashes to ashes, dust to dust'
+over the remains of a very selfish old man, for I sometimes think that
+it can't be long first now."
+
+"My dear old friend," said Bayle, shaking his hand warmly, "I pray that
+the day may be very far distant.  When it does come, as it comes to us
+all, I shall be able to think that the selfishness of which you speak
+was mere outside show.  Gordon Bourne, I seem to be a simple kind of
+man, but I think I have learned to read men's hearts."
+
+The old man's lip quivered a little, and he tried vainly to speak.
+Then, giving his stout ebony cane a stamp on the floor, he raised it,
+and shook it threateningly.
+
+"Confound you, Bayle!  I wish you were as poor as Job."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"So that I might leave you all I've got.  Perhaps I shall."
+
+"No, no, don't do that," said Bayle seriously, and his frank, handsome
+face looked troubled; "I have more than I want.  But, come, tell me; you
+have been down to Castor, then?"
+
+"Yes, I was there a week."
+
+"And how are they all?"
+
+"Older, of course, but things seem about the same.  Place like that does
+not change much."
+
+"But the people do."
+
+"Not they.  By George! sir, one of the first men I saw as I limped down
+the street in a pair of confoundedly tight Hessians Hoby made for me--
+punish my poor corns horribly.  What with them and the stiff cravats a
+gentleman is forced to wear, life is unendurable.  Ah! you don't study
+appearances at sea.  Wish I could wear boots like those, Bayle."
+
+"You were saying that you saw somebody."
+
+"Ah, yes; to be sure, I trailed off about my boots.  Why, I am getting
+into--lose leeway, sir.  But I remember now.  First man I saw was old
+Gemp, sitting like a figure-head outside his cottage.  Regular old
+mummy; but he seemed to come to life as soon as he heard a step, and
+turned his eyes towards me, looking as inquisitive as a monkey.  Poor
+old boy--almost paralysed, and has to be lifted in and out.  I often
+wonder what was the use of such men as he."
+
+Christie Bayle's broad shoulders gave a twitch, and he looked up in an
+amused manner.
+
+"Ah, well, what was the use of me, if you like?  Doctor looked well; so
+does the old lady.  Said they were up here three months ago, and enjoyed
+their visit I say, Bayle, you'd better have the living.  Mrs Hallam
+might be disposed to go down to the old home again, eh?"
+
+A quiet, stern look, that made Christie Bayle appear ten years older,
+and changed him in aspect from one of thirty-five to nearer fifty, came
+over his face.
+
+"No," he said, "I am sure Mrs Hallam would never go back to Castor to
+live."
+
+"Humph!  Well, you know best.  I say, Bayle, does she want help?  It is
+such a delicate matter to offer it to her, especially in our relative
+positions."
+
+"No, I am sure she does not," said Bayle quickly; "you would hurt her
+feelings by the offer."
+
+Sir Gordon nodded, and sat gazing at one particular flower in the carpet
+of his host's simply-furnished room, which he poked and scraped with his
+stick.
+
+"How was Thickens?"
+
+"Just the same; not altered a bit, unless it is to look more drab.  Mrs
+Thickens--that woman's an impostor, sir.  She has grown younger since
+she married."
+
+"Yes, she astonished me," said Bayle, smiling with satisfaction that his
+visitor had gone off dangerously painful ground, "plump, pleasant little
+body."
+
+"With fat filling up her creases and covering up her holes and corners!"
+cried Sir Gordon, interrupting.  "Confound it all, sir, I could never
+get the fat to come and fill up my creases and furrows.  I saw her
+standing there, feeding Thickens's fish, smiling at them, and as happy
+as the day was long.  Deal happier than when she was Miss Heathery.
+Everybody seems to be happy but me.  I never am."
+
+"See the Trampleasures?" said Bayle.
+
+"Oh, yes, saw them, and heard them, too.  Regular ornament to the bank,
+Trampleasure.  People believe in him, though.  Talks to them, and asks
+the farmers in to lunch.  If he were not there, they'd think Dixons' was
+going.  Poor old Dixon, how cut up he was over that Hallam business!  It
+killed him, Bayle."
+
+"Think so?" said Bayle, with his brow wrinkling.
+
+"Sure of it, sir.  It was not the money he cared for; it was the
+principle of the thing.  Dixons' name had stood so high in the town and
+neighbourhood.  There was a mystery, too, about the matter that was
+never cleared up."
+
+"Hadn't we better change the subject, Sir Gordon?"
+
+"No, sir," said Bayle's visitor curtly.  "Garrulity is one of the
+privileges of old age.  We old men don't get many privileges; let me
+enjoy that.  I like to gossip about old times to some one who
+understands them as you do.  If you don't like to hear me, say so, and I
+will go."
+
+"No, no, pray stay, and I'll go down with you to the club."
+
+"Hah!  That's right.  Well, as I was saying, there was a bit of mystery
+about that which worried poor old Dixon terribly.  We never could make
+out what the scoundrel had done with the money.  He and that other
+fellow, Crellock, could easily get rid of a good deal; but there was a
+large sum unaccounted for, I'm sure."
+
+There was a pause here, and Sir Gordon seemed to be hesitating about
+saying something that was on his mind.
+
+"You wanted to tell me something," said Bayle at last.
+
+"Well, yes, I was going to say you see a deal of the widow, don't you?"
+
+"Widow?  What widow?  Oh, Mrs Richardson.  Poor thing, yes; but how did
+you know I took an interest in her?  Hah! there: you may give me ten
+pounds for her."
+
+"Mrs Richardson!  Pooh!  I mean Mrs Hallam."
+
+"Widow?"
+
+"Well, yes; what else is she?  Husband transported for life.  The man is
+socially dead."
+
+"You do not know Mrs Hallam," said Bayle gravely.
+
+"Do you think she believes in him still?"
+
+"With her whole heart.  He is to her the injured man, a victim to a
+legal error, and she lives in the belief which she has taught her child,
+that some day her martyr's reputation will be cleared, and that he will
+take his place among his fellow-men once more."
+
+"I wish I could think so too, for her sake," said Sir Gordon, after a
+pause.
+
+"Amen!"
+
+"But, Bayle, you--you don't ever think there was any mistake?"
+
+"It is always painful to me to speak of a man whom I never could
+esteem."
+
+"But to me, man--to me."
+
+"For twelve years, Sir Gordon, I have had the face of that loving,
+trusting woman before me, steadfast in her faith in the husband she
+loves."
+
+"Loves?"
+
+"As truly as on the day she took him first to her heart."
+
+"But do you think that she really still believes him innocent?"
+
+"In her heart of hearts; and so does her child.  And I say that this is
+the one painful part of our intimacy.  It has been the cause of coldness
+and even distant treatment at times."
+
+"But she seemed to have exonerated you from all credit in his arrest."
+
+"Oh, yes, long ago.  She attributes it to the accident of chance and the
+treachery of the scoundrel Crellock."
+
+"Who was only Hallam's tool."
+
+"Exactly.  But she forgives me, believing me her truest friend."
+
+"And rightly.  The man who fought for her at the time of the--er--well,
+accident, Bayle, eh?"
+
+"Shall we change the subject?" said Bayle coldly.
+
+"No; I like to talk about poor Mrs Hallam, and I will call and see her
+soon."
+
+"But you will be careful," said Bayle earnestly.  "Of course your
+presence will bring back sad memories.  Do not pain her by any allusion
+to Hallam."
+
+"I will take care.  But look here, Bayle; you did come up here to be
+near them?"
+
+"Certainly I did.  Why, Sir Gordon, that child seemed to be part of my
+life, and when Mrs Hallam had that long illness the little thing came
+to me as if I were her father.  She had always liked me, and that liking
+has grown."
+
+"You educated her?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know; I suppose so," said Bayle, looking up with a frank,
+ingenuous smile.  "We have always read together, and painted, and then
+there was the music of an evening.  You must hear her sing!"
+
+"Hah!  I should like to, Bayle.  Perhaps I shall.  Don't think me
+impertinent, but you see I am so much away in my yacht.  Selfish old
+fellow, you know; want to live as long as I can, and I think I shall
+live longer if I go to sea than if I stroll idling about Castor or in
+London at my club.  I've asked you a lot of questions.  I suppose you
+have done all the teaching?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no; her mother has had a large share in the child's
+education."
+
+"Humph! when I called her child, I was snubbed."  Bayle laughed.  "Well,
+I've grown to think of her as my child, and she looks upon me almost as
+she might upon her father."
+
+"Humph!" said Sir Gordon rather gruffly.  "I half expected, every time I
+came back, to find you married, Bayle."
+
+"Find me married?" said Bayle, laughing.  "My dear sir, I am less likely
+to marry than you.  Confirmed old bachelor, and I am very happy--happier
+than I deserve to be."
+
+"Don't cant, Bayle," cried Sir Gordon peevishly.  "I've always liked you
+because you never threw sentiments of that kind at me.  Don't begin now.
+Well, there, I must trot.  You are going to dine with me?"
+
+"Yes; I've promised."
+
+"Ah," said Sir Gordon, looking at Bayle almost enviously, "you always
+were quite a boy.  What a physique you have!  Why, man, you don't look
+thirty-five."
+
+"I'm very sorry."
+
+"Sorry, man?"
+
+"Well, then, I'm very glad."
+
+"Bah!  There, put on your hat, and come down at once.  I hate this part
+of London."
+
+"And I have grown to love it.  `The mind is its own place.'  You know
+the rest."
+
+"Oh, yes, I know the rest," said Sir Gordon gruffly.  "Come along.
+Where can we get a coach?"
+
+"I'll show you," said Bayle, taking his arm and leading him through two
+or three streets, to stop at last in a quiet, new-looking square close
+by St John's Street.
+
+"Well, what's the matter?" said Sir Gordon testily.  "Nothing, I hope;
+only I must make a call here before I go down with you."
+
+"For goodness' sake, make haste, then, man!  My boots are torturing me!"
+
+"Come in, then, and sit down," said Bayle, smiling, as a stern-looking
+woman opened the door, and curtsied familiarly.
+
+"I must either do that or sit upon the step," said the old gentleman
+peevishly; and he followed Bayle into the passage, and then into the
+parlour, for he seemed quite at home.
+
+Then a change came over Sir Gordon's face, for Bayle said quietly:
+
+"My dear Mrs Hallam, I have brought an old friend."
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A PEEP BEHIND THE CLOUDS.
+
+The meeting was painful, for Millicent Hallam and Sir Gordon had never
+stood face to face since that day when he had himself opened the door
+for her on the occasion of her appeal to him on her husband's behalf.
+
+"Bless my soul!" exclaimed Sir Gordon.  "I did not know this."
+
+"It is a surprise, too, for me," said Mrs Hallam, as she coloured
+slightly, and then turned pale; but in a moment or two she was calm and
+composed--a handsome, grave-looking lady, with unlined face, but with
+silvery streaks running through her abundant hair.
+
+"You--you should have told me, Bayle," said Sir Gordon testily.
+
+"And spoilt my surprise," said Bayle.
+
+"I am very, very glad to see you, Sir Gordon," said Mrs Hallam in a
+grave, sweet way, once more thoroughly mistress of her emotions.
+"Julie, my dear, you hardly recollect our visitor?"
+
+"Yes, oh yes!" said a tall, graceful girl, coming forward to place her
+hand in Sir Gordon's.  "I seem to see you back as if through a mist;
+but--oh, yes, I remember!"  She hesitated, and blushed, and laughed.
+"You one day--you brought me a great doll."
+
+Sir Gordon had taken both her hands, letting fall hat and stick.  He
+tried to speak, but the words would not come.  His lip quivered, his
+face twitched, and Julia felt his hands tremble, as she looked at him
+with naive wonder, unable to comprehend his emotion.
+
+He raised her hand as if to press it to his lips, but let it fall, and,
+drawing her towards him, kissed her tenderly on the brow, ending by
+retaining her hand in both of his.
+
+"An old man's kiss, my child," he said, gazing at her wistfully.  "You
+remind me so of one I loved--twenty years ago, my dear, and before you
+were born."  He looked round from one to the other, as if apologising
+for his emotion.  "My dear Bayle," he said at last, recovering himself,
+and speaking with chivalrous courtesy, "I am in your debt for
+introducing me to our young friend.  Mrs Hallam, you will let me come
+and see you?"
+
+Millicent hesitated, and there was a curious, haughty, defiant look in
+her eyes as she gazed at her visitor, as if at bay.
+
+"I am sure Mrs Hallam will be glad to see a very dear old friend of
+mine," said Bayle quietly; and as he spoke Mrs Hallam glanced at him.
+Her eyes softened, and she held out her hand to her visitor.
+
+"Always glad to see you," she said.
+
+Sir Gordon smiled and looked pleased, as he glanced round the pretty,
+simply-furnished room, with tokens of the busy hands that adorned it on
+every side.  Here was Julia's drawing, there her embroidery; they were
+her flowers in the window; the bird that twittered so sweetly from its
+cage hung on the shutter, and the piano, were hers too.  There was only
+one jarring note in the whole interior, and that was the portrait in
+oils of the handsome man, in the most prominent place in the room--a
+picture that at one corner was a little blistered, as if by fire, and
+whose eyes seemed to be watching the visitor wherever he turned.
+
+There were many painful memories revived during that visit, but on the
+whole it was pleasant, and with the agony of the past softened by time,
+Millicent Hallam found herself speaking half reproachfully to Sir Gordon
+for not visiting her during all these years.
+
+"Don't blame me," he said in reply; "I have always felt that there was a
+wish implied on your part that our acquaintance should cease, as being
+too painful for both."
+
+"Perhaps it was," she said, with a sigh; "and I am to blame."
+
+"Let us share it, if there be any blame," said Sir Gordon, smiling, "and
+amend our ways.  You must remember, though, that I have always kept up
+my friendship with the doctor whenever I have been at home, and I have
+always heard of your well-beings or--"
+
+"Oh, yes!" said Mrs Hallam hastily, as if to check any allusion to
+assistance.  "When I recovered from my serious illness I was anxious to
+leave Castor.  I thought perhaps that my child's education--in London--
+and Mr Bayle was very kind in helping me."
+
+"He is a good friend," said Sir Gordon gravely.
+
+"Friend!" cried Mrs Hallam, with her face full of animation, "he has
+been to me a brother.  When I was in utter distress at that terrible
+time, he extricated my poor husband's money affairs from the miserable
+tangle in which they were left, and by a wise management of the little
+remainder so invested it that there was a sufficiency for Julia and me
+to live on in this simple manner."
+
+"He did all this for you," said Sir Gordon dryly.
+
+"Yes, and would have placed his purse at my disposal, but that he saw
+how painful such an offer would have been."
+
+"Of course," said Sir Gordon, "most painful."
+
+"I often fear that I did wrong in allowing him to leave Castor; but he
+has done so much good here that I tell myself all was for the best."
+
+And so the conversation rippled on, Julia sometimes being drawn in, and
+now and then Bayle throwing in a word; but on the whole simply looking
+on, an interested spectator, who was appealed to now and then as if he
+had been the brother of one, the uncle of the other.
+
+At last Sir Gordon rose to go, taking quite a lingering farewell of
+Julia, at whom he gazed again in the same wistful manner.
+
+"Good-bye," he said, smiling tenderly at her, while holding her little
+hand in his.  "I shall come again--soon--yes, soon; but not to bring you
+a doll."
+
+There was a jingle of a tiny bell as they closed the door, and the
+hard-faced woman had to squeeze by the visitors to get to the door, the
+passage was so small.
+
+Sir Gordon stared hard, and then placed his large square glass to his
+eye.
+
+"To be sure--yes.  It's you," he said.  "The old maid, Thisbe--"
+
+"Some people can't help being old maids," said that lady tartly, "and
+some wants to be, sir."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Sir Gordon with grave politeness.  "You
+mistake me.  I meant the maid who used to be with Doctor and Mrs
+Luttrell in the old times.  To be sure, yes, and with Mrs Hallam
+afterwards."
+
+"Yes, Sir Gordon."
+
+"So you've kept to your mistress all through--I mean you have stayed."
+
+"Yes, sir, of course I have."
+
+"And been one of the truest and best of friends," said Bayle, smiling.
+
+Thisbe gave herself a jerk and glanced over her shoulder, as though to
+see if the way was clear for her escape--should she have to run and
+avoid this praise.
+
+"Ah, yes," said Sir Gordon, looking at her still very thoughtfully.  "To
+be sure," he continued, in quite dreamy tones, "I had almost forgotten.
+Tom Porter wants to marry you."
+
+"Then Tom Porter must--"
+
+"Tchut! tchut! tchut! woman; don't talk like that.  Make your hay while
+the sun shines.  Good fellow, Tom.  Obstinate, but solid, and careful.
+Come, Bayle."
+
+"Ah," he sighed, as they walked slowly down the street.
+
+  "Gather your rosebuds while you may,
+  Old Time is still a-flying.
+
+"You and I have never been rosebud gatherers, Christie Bayle.  It will
+give us the better opportunity for watching those who are.  Bayle, old
+friend, we must look out: there must be no handsome, plausible scoundrel
+to come and cull that fragrant little bloom--we must not have another
+sweet young life wrecked--like hers."  He made a backward motion with
+his head towards the house they had left.
+
+"Heaven forbid!" cried Bayle anxiously; and his countenance was full of
+wonder and dismay.
+
+"You must look out, sir, look out," said Sir Gordon, thumping his cane.
+
+"But she is a mere girl yet."
+
+"Pish! man; tush! man.  It is your mere girls who form these fancies.
+What have you been about?"
+
+"About?" said Bayle.  "About?  I don't know.  I have thought of such a
+thing as my little pupil forming an attachment, but it seemed to be a
+thing of the far-distant future."
+
+Sir Gordon shook his head.
+
+"There is nothing then now?"
+
+"Oh, absurd!  Why, she is only eighteen!"
+
+"Eighteen!" said Gordon sharply; "and at eighteen girls are only cutting
+their teeth and wearing pinafores, eh?  Go to: blind mole of a parson!
+Why, millions of them lose their hearts long before that.  Come, come,
+man, wake up!  A pretty watchman of that fair sweet tower you are, to
+have never so much as thought of the enemy, when already he may be
+making his approach."  Bayle turned to him, looking half-bewildered, but
+the look passed off.
+
+"No," he said firmly; "the enemy is not in sight yet, and you shall not
+have cause to speak to me again like, that."
+
+"That's right, Bayle; that's right.  Dear, dear," he sighed as they
+walked slowly towards the city, "how time does gallop on!  It seems just
+one step from Millicent Luttrell's girlhood to that of her child.  Yes,
+yes, yes: these young people increase, and grow so rapidly that they
+fill up the world and shoulder us old folk over the edge."
+
+"Unless they have yachts," said Bayle, smiling.  "Plenty of room at
+sea."
+
+"Ah, to be sure; that reminds me.  I have been at sea.  Man, man, what
+an impostor you are."
+
+"I!" exclaimed Bayle, looking round at his companion in a startled
+manner.
+
+"To be sure.  Poor lady!  She has been confiding to me while you were
+chatting with little Julia about the piano."
+
+Bayle gave an angry stamp.
+
+"And your careful management of the remains of her husband's property."
+
+Bayle knit his brow and increased his pace.
+
+"No, no," cried Sir Gordon, snatching at and taking his arm.  "No
+running away from unpleasant truths, Christie Bayle.  You paid the
+counsel for Hallam's defence, did you not?"
+
+Bayle nodded shortly, and uttered an angry ejaculation.
+
+"And there was not a shilling left when Hallam was gone?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Come, come, speak.  I am going to have the truth, my friend: priesthood
+and deception must not go hand in hand.  Now then, did Hallam have any
+money?"
+
+"If he had it would have been handed over to Dixons' Bank," said Bayle
+sharply.  "I should have seen it done."
+
+"Hah!  I thought so.  Then look here, sir, you have been investing your
+money for the benefit of that poor woman and her child."
+
+No answer.
+
+"Christie Bayle: do you love that woman still?"
+
+"Sir Gordon!  No; I will not be angry.  Yes; as a man might love a dear
+sister smitten by affliction; and her child as if she were my own."
+
+"Hah! and you have had invested so much money--your own, for their
+benefit.  Why have you done this?"
+
+"I thought it was my duty towards the widow and fatherless in their
+affliction," said Bayle simply; and Sir Gordon turned and peered round
+in the brave, honest face at his side to find it slightly flushed, but
+ready to meet his gaze with fearless frankness.
+
+"Ah," sighed Sir Gordon at last, "it was not fair."
+
+"Not fair?" said Bayle wonderingly.
+
+"No, sir.  You might have let me do half."
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER THREE.
+
+BY THE FIRE'S GLOW.
+
+"Won't you have the lamp lit, Miss Millicent?"
+
+"No, Thisbe, not yet," said Mrs Hallam, in a low, dreamy voice, and
+without a word the faithful follower of her mistress in trouble went
+softly out, closing the door, and leaving mother and daughter alone.
+
+"She's got one of her fits on," mused Thisbe.  "Ah, how it does come
+over me sometimes like a temptation--just about once a month ever
+since--to have one good go at her and tell her I told her so; that it
+was all what might be expected of wedding a handsome man.  `Didn't I
+warn you?'  I could say.  `Didn't I tell you how it would be?'  But no:
+I couldn't say a word to the poor dear, and her going on believing in
+the bad scamp as she does all these years.  She's different to me.  It's
+just for all the world like a temptation that comes over me, driving me
+like to speak, but I've kept my mouth shut all these years and I'm going
+to do it still."
+
+Thisbe had reached her little brightly-kept kitchen, where she stood
+thoughtfully gazing at the fire, with one hand upon her hip, for some
+minutes.
+
+Then a peculiar change came upon Thisbe's hard face.  It seemed as if it
+had been washed over with something sweet, which softened it; then it
+suggested the idea that she was about to sneeze, and ended by a violent
+spasmodic twitch, quite a convulsion.  Thisbe's body remained
+motionless, though her face was altered, and by degrees her eyes, after
+brightening and sparkling, grew suffused and dreamy, as she gazed
+straight before her and seemed to be thinking very deeply.  Her
+countenance was free from the spasm now, and as the candle shone upon
+it, it brought prominently into notice the fact that in her love of
+cleanliness Thisbe was not so particular as she might have been in the
+process of rinsing; for the fact was patent that she rubbed herself
+profusely with soap, and left enough upon her face after her ablutions
+to produce the effect of an elastic varnish or glaze.
+
+Everything was very still, the only sounds being the dull wooden tick of
+the Dutch clock, and the drowsy chirp of an asthmatic cricket, which
+seemed to have wedded itself somewhere in a crack behind the grate, and
+to be bemoaning its inability to get out; while the clock ticked
+hoarsely, as if its life were a burden, and it were heartily sick of
+having that existence renewed by a nightly pulling up of the two black
+iron sausages that hung some distance below its sallow face.
+
+Suddenly Thisbe walked sharply to the fire, seized the poker, and
+cleared the bottom bar.  This done she replaced the poker, and planted
+one foot upon the fender to warm, and one hand upon the mantel-piece
+with so much inadvertence that she knocked down the tinder-box, and had
+to pick the flint and steel from out of the ashes with the brightly
+polished tongs.
+
+"I don't know what's come to me," she said sharply, as soon as the
+tinder-box was replaced.  "Think of her holding fast to him all these
+years, and training up my bairn to believe in him as if he was a noble
+martyr!  My word, it's a curious thing for a woman to be taken like that
+with a man, and no matter what he does, to be always believing him!"
+
+Thisbe pursed up her lips, and twitched her toes up and down as they
+rested upon the fender, while she directed her conversation at the
+golden caverns of the fire.
+
+"They say Gorringe the tailor used to beat his wife, but that woman
+always looked happy, and I've seen her smile on him as if there wasn't
+such another man in the world."
+
+Just then the clock gave such a wheeze that Thisbe started and stared at
+it.
+
+"Quite makes me nervous," she said, turning back to the fire.  "What
+with the thinking and worry, and her keeping always in the same mind--
+oh, my!"
+
+She took her hand from the mantel-piece to clap it upon its fellow as a
+sudden thought struck her, which made her look aghast.
+
+"If he did!" she said after a pause.  "And yet she expects it some day.
+Oh, dear me! oh, dear me! what weak, foolish, trusting things women are!
+They take a fancy to a man, and then because you don't believe in him,
+too, it's hoity-toity and never forgive me.  Well, poor soul! perhaps
+it's all for the best.  It may comfort her in her troubles.  I wonder
+what Tom Porter looks like now," she said suddenly, and then looked
+sharply and guiltily round to see if her words had been heard.  "I
+declare I ought to be ashamed of myself," she said, and rushing at some
+work, she plumped herself down and began to stitch with all her might.
+
+In the little parlour all was very quiet, save the occasional footstep
+in the street.  The blind was not drawn down, and the faint light from
+outside mingled with the glow from the fire, which threw up the face of
+Julia Hallam, where she sat dreamily gazing at the embers, against the
+dark transparency, giving her the look of a painting by one of the
+Italian masters of the past.
+
+At the old-fashioned square piano her mother was seated with her hands
+resting upon the keys which were silent.  Farther distant from the fire
+her figure, graceful still, seemed melting into a darker transparency,
+one which grew deeper and deeper, till in the corner of the room and
+right and left of the fireplace the shadows seemed to be almost solid.
+Then the accustomed eye detected the various objects that furnished the
+room, melting, as it were, away.
+
+Only on one spot did there seem a discordant note in the general harmony
+of the softly glowing scene, and that was where the rays from a
+newly-lighted street lamp shone straight upon the wall and across the
+picture of Robert Hallam, cutting it strangely asunder, and giving to
+the upper portion of the face a weird and almost ghastly look.
+
+Thisbe's steps had died out and her kitchen door had closed, but the
+musings of the two women had been interrupted and did not go back to
+their former current.
+
+All at once, soft as a memory of the bygone, the notes of the piano
+began to sound, and Julia changed her position, resting one arm upon the
+chair by her side and listening intently to a dreamy old melody that
+brought back to her the drawing-room in the old house at Castor--a
+handsomely-furnished, low-ceiled room with deep window-seat, on whose
+cushion she had often knelt to watch the passing vehicles while her
+mother played that very tune in the half light.
+
+So dreamy, so softened, as if mingled there with a strange sadness.  Now
+just as it was then, one of the vivid memories of childhood, Weber's
+"Last Waltz," an air so sweet, so full of melancholy, that it seems
+wondrous that our parents could have danced to its strains, till we
+recall the doleful minor music of minuet, coranto, and saraband.
+Dancing must have been a serious matter in those days.
+
+Soft and sweet, chord after chord, each laden with its memory to Julia
+Hallam.
+
+Her mother was playing that when her father came in hastily one night,
+and was so angry because there were no lights; that night when she stole
+away to Thisbe.
+
+She was playing it too that afternoon when Grandmamma Luttrell came and
+was in such low spirits, and would not tell the reason why.  Again, that
+night when she shrank away from her father, and he flung her hands from
+him, and said that angry word.
+
+Memory after memory came back from the past as Millicent Hallam played
+softly on, making her child's face lustrous, eyes grow more dreamy, the
+curved neck bend lower, and the tears begin to gather, till, with quite
+a start, the young girl raised her head and saw the rays from the
+gas-lamp shining across the picture beyond her mother's dimly-seen
+profile.
+
+Julia rose to cross to her mother's side, and knelt down to pass her
+arms round the shapely waist and there rest.
+
+"Go on playing," she said softly.  "Now tell me about poor papa."
+
+The notes of the old melody seemed to have an additional strain of
+melancholy as they floated softly through the room, sometimes almost
+dying away, while after waiting a few minutes they formed the
+accompaniment to the sad story of Millicent Hallam's love and faith,
+told for the hundredth time to her daughter.
+
+For Millicent talked on without a tremor in her voice, every word
+distinct and firm, and yet softly sweet and full of tenderness, as it
+seemed to her that she was telling the story of a martyr's sufferings to
+his child.
+
+"And all these years, and we have heard so little," sighed Julia.  "Poor
+papa!  Poor father!"
+
+The music ceased as she spoke, but went on again as she paused.
+
+"Waiting, my child; waiting as I wait, and as my child waits, for the
+time when he will be declared free, and will take his place again among
+honourable men."
+
+"But, mother," said Julia, "could not Mr Bayle or Sir Gordon have done
+more; petitioned the king, and pointed out this grievous wrong?"
+
+"I could not ask Sir Gordon, my child.  There were reasons why he could
+not act; but I did all that was possible year after year till, in my
+despair, I found that I must wait."
+
+"How glad he must be of your letters!" said Julia suddenly.
+
+Millicent Hallam sighed.
+
+"I suppose he cannot write to us.  Perhaps he feels that it would pain
+us.  Mother, darling, was I an ill-conditioned, perverse child?"
+
+"My Julia," said Mrs Hallam, turning to her and drawing her closely to
+her breast, "what a question!  No.  Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because I seem just to recollect myself shrinking away from papa as if
+I were sulky or obstinate.  It was as if I was afraid of him."
+
+"Oh, no, no!" cried Mrs Hallam anxiously, "you were very young then,
+and your poor father was constrained, and troubled with many anxieties,
+which made him seem cold and distant.  It was his great love for us, my
+child."
+
+"Yes, dear mother, his great love for us--his misfortune."
+
+"His misfortune," sighed Mrs Hallam.
+
+"But some day--when he returns--oh, mother! how we will love him, and
+make him happy!  How we will force him to forget the troubles of the
+past!"
+
+"My darling!" whispered Mrs Hallam, pressing her fondly to her heart.
+
+"Do you think papa had many enemies, then?"
+
+"I used to think so, my child, but that feeling has passed away.  I seem
+to see more clearly now that those who caused his condemnation were but
+the creatures of circumstances.  It was the villain who seemed to be
+your father's evil genius caused all our woe.  He made me shiver on the
+morning of our wedding, coming suddenly upon us as he did, as if he were
+angry with your father for being so happy."
+
+"But could we not do something?" said Julia earnestly.  "It seems to be
+so sad--year after year goes by, and we sit idle."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Hallam with a sob; "but that is all we can do, my
+child--sit and wait, sit and wait, but keeping the home ready for our
+darling when he comes--the home here--and in our hearts."
+
+"He is always there, mother," said Julia in a low, sweet voice, "always.
+How I remember him, with his soft dark hair, and his dark eyes!  I
+think I used to be a little afraid of him."
+
+"Because he seemed stern, my child, that was all.  You loved him very
+dearly."
+
+"He shall see how I will love him when he returns, mother," she added
+after a pause.  "Do you think he gives much thought to us?"
+
+"Think, my darling?  I know he prays day by day for the time when he may
+return.  Ah!" she sighed to herself, "he reproached me once with
+teaching his child not to love him.  He could not say so now."
+
+"I wonder how long it will be?" said Julia thoughtfully.  "Do you think
+he will be much changed?"
+
+She glanced up at the picture.
+
+"Changed, Julia?" said her mother, taking the sweet, earnest face
+between her hands, to shower down kisses upon it, kisses mingled with
+tears, "no, not in the least.  It is twelve long years since, now;
+heaven only knows how long to me!  Years when, but for you, my darling,
+I should have sunk beneath my burden.  I think I should have gone mad.
+In all those years you have been the link to bind me to life--to make me
+hope and strive and wait, and now I feel sometimes as if the reward were
+coming, as if this long penance were at an end.  My love! my husband!
+come to me! oh, come!"
+
+She uttered these last words with so wild and hysterical a cry that
+Julia was alarmed.
+
+"Mother," she whispered, "you are ill!"
+
+"No, no, my child; it is only sometimes that I feel so deeply stirred.
+Your words about his being changed seemed to move me to the quick.  He
+will not be changed; his hair will be grey, his face lined with the
+furrows of increasing age and care; but he himself--my dear husband,
+your loving father--will be at heart the same, and we shall welcome him
+back to a life of rest and peace."
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried Julia, catching the infection of her mother's
+enthusiasm; "and it will be soon, will it not, mother--it will be soon?"
+
+"Let us pray that it may, my child."
+
+"But, mother, why do we not go to him?"  Mrs Hallam shivered slightly.
+"We should have been near him all these years, and we might have seen
+him.  Oh, mother! if it had been only once!  Why did you not go?"  She
+rose from her knees, as if moved by her excitement.  "Why, I would have
+gone a hundred times as far!" she said excitedly.  "No distance should
+have kept me from the husband that I loved."
+
+"Julie!  Julie! are you reproaching me?"
+
+"Mother!" cried the girl, flinging herself upon her neck, "as if I could
+reproach you!"
+
+"It would not be just, my child," said Mrs Hallam, caressing the soft
+dark head, "for I have tried so hard."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know, dear; and I have known ever since I have been old
+enough to think."
+
+"In every letter I have sent I have prayed for his leave to come out and
+join him--that I might be near him, for I dared not take the
+responsibility upon myself with you."
+
+"Mother!"
+
+"If I had been alone in the world, Julia, I should have gone years upon
+years ago; but I felt that I should be committing a breach of trust to
+take his young, tender child all those thousands of miles across the
+sea, to a land whose society is wild, and often lawless."
+
+"And so you asked papa to give his consent?"
+
+"Every time I wrote to him, Julia--letters full of trust in the future,
+letters filled with the hope I did not feel.  I begged him to give me
+his consent that I might come."
+
+"And he has not replied, mother?"
+
+"Not yet, my child.  Innocent and guilty alike have a long probation to
+pass through."
+
+"But he might have written, dear."
+
+"How do we know that, Julia?" said Mrs Hallam, with a shade of
+sternness in her voice.  "I have studied the matter deeply from the
+reports and dispatches, and often the poor prisoners are sent far up the
+country as servants--almost slaves--to the settlers.  In places
+sometimes where there are no fellow-creatures save the blacks for miles
+upon miles.  No roads, Julia; no post; no means of communication."
+
+"My poor father!" sighed Julia, sinking upon the carpet, half sitting,
+half kneeling, with her hands clasped upon her knees, and her gaze
+directed up at the dimly-seen picture on the wall.
+
+"Yes, my child, I know all," said Mrs Hallam.  "I know him and his
+pride.  Think of a man like him, innocent, and yet condemned; dragged
+from his home like a common felon, and forced to herd with criminals of
+the lowest class.  Is it not natural that his heart should rebel against
+society, and that he should proudly make his stand upon his innocency,
+and wait in silent suffering for the day when the law shall say:
+`Innocent and injured man, come back from the desert.  You have been
+deeply wronged!'"
+
+"Yes, dear mother.  Poor father!  But not one letter in all these
+years!"
+
+"Julia, my child, you pain me," cried Mrs Hallam excitedly.  "When you
+speak like that, your words seem to imply that he has had the power to
+send letter or message.  He is your father--my husband.  Child, you must
+learn to think of him with the same faith as I."
+
+"Indeed I will, dear," cried Julia passionately; and then she started to
+her feet, for there was a quick, decided knock at the front door.
+
+Mrs Hallam hurriedly tried to compose her features; and as Thisbe's
+step was heard in the passage she drew in her breath, gazed wildly at
+the picture, just as Julia drew down the blind and blotted it from her
+sight.  Then the door was opened, and their visitor came in the centre
+of the glow shed by the passage light.
+
+"Aha!  In the dark!" cried Bayle in his cheery voice, as Thisbe opened
+the door.  "How I wish I had been born a lady!  I always envy you that
+pleasant hour you spend in the half light, gazing into the fire."
+
+Julia echoed his laugh in a pleasant silvery trill, as she hastily lit
+the lamp, Bayle watching her as the argand wick gradually burned round,
+and she put on the glass chimney, the light throwing up her handsome
+young face against the gloom till she lifted the great dome-shaped
+globe, which emitted a musical sound before being placed over the lamp,
+and throwing Julia's countenance once more into the shade.
+
+"What are you laughing at?" said Bayle.
+
+"At the idea of our Mr Bayle being idle for an hour, sitting and
+thinking over the fire," said Julia playfully, to draw his attention
+from her mother's disturbed countenance.
+
+The attempt was a failure, for Bayle saw clearly that something was
+wrong; that pain and suffering had been there before him; and he sighed
+as he asked himself what he could do more, in his unselfish way, to
+chase earthly cares from that quiet home.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+THE DREADED MESSAGE.
+
+There was quite a change in the little house in the Clerkenwell Square.
+Life had been very calm and peaceful there for Julia, though she made no
+friends.  Any advances made by neighbours were gravely and coldly
+repelled by Mrs Hallam.
+
+Once, when she had felt injured by her mother's refusal of an invitation
+for her to some young people's party, and had raised her eyes
+reproachfully to her face, Mrs Hallam had taken her in her arms,
+kissing her tenderly.
+
+"Not yet, my child; not yet," she whispered.  "We must wait."
+
+Julia coloured, and then turned pale, for she understood her mother's
+meaning.  They stood aloof from ordinary society, and they possessed a
+secret.
+
+But now, since Sir Gordon had been brought to the house by Christie
+Bayle, their life appeared to Julia to be changed.  Her mother seemed
+less oppressed and sad during the evenings when Sir Gordon came, as he
+did now frequently.  There was so much to listen to in the animated
+discussions between the banker and the clergyman; and as they discussed
+some political question with great animation, Julia leaned forward
+smiling and slightly flushed, as Bayle, with all the force of a powerful
+orator, delivered his opinions, that were, as a rule, more sentimental
+than sound, more full of heart than logic.
+
+He would always end with a fine peroration, from the force of habit; and
+Julia would clap her hands while Mrs Hallam smiled.
+
+"Wait a bit, my dear," Sir Gordon would say, nodding his head, "one
+story is good till the other is told."
+
+Then, in the coolest and most matter-of-fact way, he would proceed to
+demolish Bayle's arguments one by one, battering them down till the
+structure crumbled into nothingness.
+
+All this, too, was without effort.  He simply drew logical conclusions,
+pointed out errors, showed what would be the consequences of following
+the clergyman's line of argument, and ended by giving Julia a little
+nod.
+
+At the beginning the latter would feel annoyed, for her sympathies had
+all been with Bayle's plans; then some clever point would take her
+attention; her young reason would yield to the ingenuity of the
+highly-cultivated old man's attack; and finally she would mentally range
+herself upon his side, and reward him with plaudits from her little
+white hands, darting a triumphant look now at Bayle, as if saying,
+"There we have won!"
+
+Highly good-tempered were all these encounters; and they were always
+followed by another harmony, that of music, Bayle playing, as of old, to
+Millicent's accompaniment; more often to that of her child.
+
+It was a calm and peaceful little English home, that every day grew more
+attractive to the old club-lounger and lover of the sea.
+
+He coloured slightly the first time Bayle came and found him there.  The
+next time he nodded, as much as to say, "I thought I would run up."  The
+next it seemed a matter of course that an easy-chair should be ready for
+him in one corner, where he took his place after pressing Mrs Hallam's
+hand warmly, and drawing Julia to him to kiss her as if she were his
+child.
+
+There was a delicacy, a display of tender reverence, that disarmed all
+suspicion of there being an undercurrent at work.  "He is one of my
+oldest friends," Mrs Hallam had said to herself; "he feels sympathy for
+me in my trouble, and he seems to love Julie with a father's love.  Why
+should I estrange him?  Why keep Julie from his society?"
+
+It never entered into her mind that, by the sentence of the law, she
+was, as it were, a woman in the position of a widow, for her husband was
+socially dead.  The seed of such an idea would have fallen upon utterly
+barren ground, and never have put forth germinating shoots.
+
+No; there was the one thought ever present in her heart, that sooner or
+later her husband's innocence would be proclaimed, and then this
+terrible present would glide away, to be forgotten in the happiness to
+come.
+
+Sir Gordon, with all his frank openness of manner, saw everything.  The
+slightest word was weighed; each action was watched; and when he
+returned to his chambers in St James's--a tiny suite of very close and
+dark rooms, which Tom Porter treated as if they were the cabins of a
+yacht--he would cast up the observations he had made.
+
+"Bayle means the widow," he said to himself, as he sat alone; "yes, he
+means the widow.  She is a widow.  Well, he is a young man, and I am--
+well, an old fool."
+
+Another night he was off upon the other tack.
+
+"It's an insult to her," he said indignantly.  "Bless her grand, true,
+sweet, innocent heart!  She never thinks of him but as the good friend
+he is.  She will never think of any one but that rascal.  Good heavens!
+what a fate for her!  What a woman to have won!"
+
+The thought so moved him that he paced his little bed-room for some time
+uneasily.
+
+"As for that fellow Bayle," he cried, "I see through him.  He means to
+marry my sweet little flower Julie.  Hah!"
+
+He sat down smiling, as if there was a pleasant fragrance in the very
+thought of the fair young girl that refreshed him, and sent him into a
+dreamy state full of visions of youth and innocence.
+
+"I don't blame him," he said, after a pause.  "I should do the same if I
+were his age.  Yes," he said firmly, and as if to crush down some
+offered opposition, "even if she be a convict's daughter.  It is not her
+fault.  We do not mark out our own paths."
+
+Again, another night, and Sir Gordon arrested himself several times over
+in the act of spoiling his carefully-trimmed nails by nibbling them--a
+somewhat painful operation--with his false teeth.
+
+"It's time I died; I honestly believe it's time I died," he said
+testily.  "When a man has grown to an age in which he spends his days
+suspecting the motives of his fellow-creatures--hah! of his best
+friends--it's time he died, for every year he lives makes him worse--
+gives him more to answer for."
+
+"Poor Bayle!" he continued, shaking hands with himself, "he looks upon
+each of those two women as something holy."
+
+"No," he mused, "that does not express it; there's something too
+fatherly, too brotherly.  No, that's not it.  Too friendly; I suppose
+that's it; but friendship seems such a weak, pitiful word to express his
+feelings towards them."
+
+"Christie Bayle, my dear friend," he said aloud, as he rose and gazed
+straight before him, "I ask your pardon; and--heaven helping me--I'll
+never suspect you again."
+
+The old man seemed to feel better after this; and throwing himself into
+an easy-chair, he smiled and looked wrinkled--as he had a way of looking
+in his dressing-room--and happy.
+
+At first Sir Gordon had gone to the little house at Clerkenwell feeling
+out of his element, and with an uncomfortable sensation upon him that
+the neighbours--poor souls who were too much occupied with the solution
+of the problem of how to get a sufficiency of bread and meat to preserve
+life--were watching him.
+
+After a second and third visit, this uneasiness wore off, and he found
+himself walking proudly up to the house, smiling at Thisbe, who only
+gave him a hard look in return, consequent upon his remark concerning
+Tom Porter.
+
+Sometimes Christie Bayle would be there.  As often not.  But the chair
+was always ready for him, and Julia took his hat and stick.
+
+It was generally after his dinner at the club that he found his way up
+there; and on these occasions Thisbe asked no questions.  The moment she
+had closed the door and shown the visitor into the little parlour, she
+went downstairs and put on the kettle.
+
+As a rule, precisely at nine, Thisbe took up the supper-tray with its
+simple contents; but on these evenings the supper-tray gave place to the
+tea-tray, and Sir Gordon sat for quite an hour sipping his tea and
+talking, Julia crossing now and then to fetch his cup.
+
+One pleasant evening, when the chill of winter had passed away, and the
+few ragged trees in the square garden, washed less sooty than usual by
+the cold rains, were asserting that there was truth in the genial, soft
+breaths of air that came floating from the west, and that it really was
+spring, Mrs Hallam, Julia, and Sir Gordon were seated at tea in the
+little parlour with the window open, and the sound of the footsteps
+without coming in regular beats.  From time to time Julia walked to the
+window to look out, turning her head aside to lay her cheek against the
+pane and gaze as far up the side of the square as she could, giving Sir
+Gordon a picture to watch of which he seemed never to tire, as he sat
+with half-closed eyes.  Then the girl returned to seat herself at the
+piano and softly play a few notes.
+
+"That must be he," she said, suddenly, and Sir Gordon's face twitched.
+
+"No, my dear," said Mrs Hallam, quietly; "that is not his step."
+
+Sir Gordon's hair seemed to move suddenly down towards his eyebrows, and
+his lips tightened, so did his eyelids, as he gave a sharp glance at
+mother and daughter.  Then his conscience gave him a twinge, and he made
+a brave effort to master his unpleasant thoughts.
+
+"Bayle is uncommonly late to-night, is he not?" he said.
+
+"He is late like this sometimes," said Mrs Hallam.  "He works very hard
+amongst the people, and attends parish meetings, where there may be long
+discussions."
+
+"Humph, yes, so I suppose.  I hope he does some good."
+
+"Some good?" cried Julia excitedly.  "Oh, you don't know how much!"
+
+"And you do, I suppose," said Sir Gordon in rather a constrained tone of
+voice.
+
+"Oh, not a hundredth part!" cried Julia naively, "Oh, Sir Gordon, I wish
+you were half so good a man!"
+
+"Julia!" exclaimed Mrs Hallam.
+
+"Upon my word, young--bless my soul!  I!--tut, tut!--hush! hush!  Mrs
+Hallam."
+
+Sir Gordon began angrily, but his testiness was of a few moments'
+duration, and he laughed at first in a forced, half-irritable manner,
+then more heartily, and ended by becoming quite overcome with mirth, and
+wiping the tears from his eyes while mother and daughter exchanged
+glances.
+
+"And here have I been deferential, and treating you, Miss Julie, like a
+grown-up young lady, while all the time you are only one of those
+innocent little maidens who say unpleasant truths before elderly
+people."
+
+"Oh, Sir Gordon," cried Julia, colouring deeply, "I am so sorry!"
+
+"Oh, sorrow is no good after such a charge as that!" said Sir Gordon
+with mock severity.  "So you and your mamma have determined that I am a
+very wicked old man, eh?"
+
+"Sir Gordon!" cried Julia, taking his hand.  "Indeed, indeed, I only
+meant that Mr Bayle was the best and kindest of friends."
+
+"While I was the most testy, exacting, and--"
+
+"Indeed, no," cried Julia, with spirit; "and I will not have you condemn
+yourself.  Next to Mr Bayle, mamma and I like you better than any one
+we know."
+
+"Ah! well, here is Bayle," said Sir Gordon, as a knock was heard; and
+the curate appeared next minute in the doorway.
+
+The lamp had been lit, and his face looked so serious and pale that Sir
+Gordon noticed the fact on the instant.
+
+"Why, Bayle," he cried warmly, "how bad you look!  Not ill?"
+
+"Ill?  No; oh, no!" he said quietly.  "I have been detained by
+business."
+
+Mrs Hallam looked at him anxiously, for beneath the calm there was ever
+a strange state of excitement waiting to break forth.  For years she had
+been living in the expectation that the next day some important news
+would come from her husband.  Letters she had very few, but the
+postman's knock made her turn pale and place her hand to her heart, to
+check its wild beatings, while the coming of a stranger to the house had
+before now completely unnerved her.  It was but natural, then, that she
+should become agitated by Bayle's manner.  A thousand--ten thousand
+things might have happened to disturb her old friend, but in her
+half-hysterical state she could find but one cause--her own troubles;
+and, starting up with her hand on her breast, she exclaimed:
+
+"You have news for me!"
+
+Christie Bayle had no more diplomatic power than a child, perhaps less
+than some; and he sank back in his chair, with his hand half-raised to
+his lips, gazing at her in a pained, appealing manner that excited her
+further.
+
+"Yes," she cried, "you are keeping something back.  You think I cannot
+bear it, but I can.  Yes, I am strong.  Have I not borne all this pain
+these twelve years?  And do you think me a child that you treat me so?
+Speak, I say--speak!"
+
+"My dear Mrs Hallam," began Sir Gordon soothingly.
+
+"Hush, sir!" cried the trembling woman.  "Let him speak.  Mr Bayle, why
+do you torture me--you, my best friend?  What have I done that you--ah!
+I see now.  I--Julie--my child--he is dead!--he is dead!"
+
+Julia had started to her side and caught her in her arms as she burst
+into a passionate wail, the first display of the wild despair in her
+heart that Bayle had seen for many years.
+
+"No, no!" he cried, starting up and speaking with energy.  "Mrs Hallam,
+you are wrong.  He is alive and well."
+
+Millicent Hallam threw up her hands, clasped them together, reeled, and
+would have fallen but for her child's sustaining arms.  It was as if a
+sudden vertigo had seized her, but it passed as quickly as it came.
+Years of suffering had strengthened as well as weakened, and the woman's
+power of will was tremendous.
+
+"I am better," she said in a hoarse, strangely altered voice.  "Hush,
+Julie--I _can_ bear it," she cried imperiously.  "Tell me all.  You have
+heard of my husband?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs Hallam, yes; but be calm and you shall know all."
+
+"I am calm."
+
+Christie Bayle felt the cold dew stand upon his brow as he faced the
+pale, stern face before him.  It did not seem the Millicent Hallam he
+knew, but one at enmity with him for holding back from her that which
+was her very life.
+
+"Why do you not speak?" she said angrily; and she took a step forward.
+
+In a flash, as it were, Christie Bayle seemed to see into the future,
+and in that future he saw, as it were, the simple happy little home he
+had made for the woman he had once loved crumbling away into
+nothingness, the years of peace gone for ever, and a dark future of pain
+and misery usurping their place.  The dew upon his brow grew heavier,
+and as Sir Gordon's eyes ranged from one to the other he could read that
+the anguish in the countenance of the man he had made his friend was as
+great as that suffered by the woman to whom, in the happy past, they had
+talked of love.  He started as Bayle spoke; his voice sounded so calm
+and emotionless; at times it was slightly husky, but it gained strength
+as he went on, its effect being, as he took Mrs Hallam's hands to make
+her sink upon her knees at his feet her anger gone, and the calm of his
+spirit seeming to influence her own.
+
+"I hesitated to speak," he said, "until I had prepared you for what I
+had to say."
+
+"Prepared?" she cried.  "What have all these terrible years been but my
+probation?"
+
+"Yes, I know," said Bayle; "but still I hesitated.  Yes," he said
+quickly, "I have heard from Mr Hallam.  He has written to me--enclosing
+a letter for his wife."  As he spoke he took the letter from his breast,
+and Mrs Hallam caught it, reading the direction with swimming eyes.
+
+"Julie!" she panted, starting to her feet, "read--read it--quickly--
+whisper, my child!"
+
+She turned her back to the men, and held the unopened letter beneath the
+lamp.
+
+Julia stretched out her hand to take the letter, but her mother drew it
+quickly back, with an alarmed look at her child, holding it tightly with
+both hands the next moment to the light; and Julia read through her
+tears in a low quick voice:
+
+"Private and confidential.
+
+"To Mrs Robert Hallam, formerly Miss Millicent Luttrell, of King's
+Castor, in the county of Lincoln.
+
+"N.B.--If the lady to whom this letter is addressed be dead, it is to be
+returned unopened to--
+
+"Robert Hallam,--
+
+"9749,--
+
+"Nulla Nulla Prison,--
+
+"Port Jackson."
+
+"Mrs Hallam," said Bayle in his calm, clear voice, "Sir Gordon and I
+are going.  You would like to be alone.  Could you bear to see us
+again--say to-night--in an hour or two?"
+
+"Yes, yes," she cried, catching his hand; "you will come back.  There!
+you see I am calm now.  Dear friends, make some excuse for me if I seem
+half mad."  Sir Gordon took the hand that Bayle dropped, and kissed it
+respectfully.
+
+Bayle was holding Julia's.
+
+"God protect you both, and give you counsel," he whispered, half
+speaking to himself.  "Julie, you will help her now."
+
+"Help her!" panted Julia.  "Why, it is a time of joy, Mr Bayle; and you
+don't seem glad."
+
+"Glad!" he said in a low voice, looking at her wistfully.  "Heaven knows
+how I should rejoice if there were good news for both."
+
+The next minute he and Sir Gordon were arm-in-arm walking about the
+square; for though Bayle had left the place intending to go to his own
+rooms, Mrs Hallam's house seemed to possess an attraction for them
+both, and they stayed within sight of the quiet little home.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE WIFE SPEAKS.
+
+Sir Gordon was the first to break the silence, and his voice trembled
+with passion and excitement.
+
+"The villain!" he said in an angry whisper.  "How dare he write to her!
+She suffered, but it was a calm and patient suffering, softened by time.
+Now he has torn open the wound to make it bleed afresh, and it will
+never heal again."
+
+"I have lived in an agonising dread of this night for the past ten
+years," said Bayle hoarsely.
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes: I.  Does it seem strange?  I have seen her gradually growing more
+restful and happy in the love of her child.  I have gone on loving that
+child as if she were my own.  Was it not reasonable that I should dread
+the hour when that man might come and claim them once again?"
+
+"But they are not his now," cried Sir Gordon.  "The man is socially
+dead."
+
+"To us and to the law," said Bayle; "but is the husband of her young
+love dead to the heart of such a woman as Millicent Hallam?"
+
+"Luttrell, man; Luttrell," cried Sir Gordon excitedly; "don't utter his
+accursed name!"
+
+"As Millicent Hallam," said Bayle gravely.  "She is his wife.  She will
+never change."
+
+"She must be made to change," cried Sir Gordon, whose excitement and
+anger were in strong contrast to the calm, patient suffering of the man
+upon whose arm he hung heavily as they tramped on round and round the
+circular railings within the square.  "It is monstrous that he should be
+allowed to disturb her peace, Bayle.  Look here!  Did you say that
+letter came enclosed to you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then--then you were a fool, man--a fool!  You call yourself her
+friend--the friend of that sweet girl?"
+
+"Their truest, best friend, I hope."
+
+"You call yourself my friend," continued Sir Gordon, in the same angry,
+unreasoning way, "and yet you give them that letter?  You should have
+sent it back to the scoundrel, marked dead.  They are dead to him.
+Bayle, you were a fool."
+
+"Do you think so?" he said smiling, and looking round at his companion.
+"My dear sir, is your Christianity at so low an ebb that you speak those
+words?"
+
+"Now you are beginning to preach, sir, to excuse yourself."
+
+"No," replied Bayle quietly.  "I was only about to say, suppose these
+long years of suffering for his crime have changed the man; are we to
+say there is to be no ray of hope in his darkened life?"
+
+"I can't argue with you, Bayle," cried Sir Gordon.  "Forgive me.  I grow
+old and easily excited.  I called you a fool: I was the fool.  It was
+misplaced.  You are not very angry with me?"
+
+"My dear old friend!"
+
+"My dear boy!"
+
+Sir Gordon's voice sounded strange, and something wonderfully like a sob
+was heard.  Then, for some time they paced on round and round the
+square, glancing at the illumined window-blind, both longing to be back
+in the pleasant little room.
+
+And now the same feeling that had troubled Bayle seemed to have made its
+way into Sir Gordon's breast.  The little home, with its tokens of
+feminine taste and traces of mother and daughter everywhere, had grown
+to be so delightful an oasis in his desert life that he looked with
+dismay at the chance of losing it for ever.
+
+He knew nothing yet, but that home seemed to be gliding away.  He had
+not heard the letter read, but a strange horror of what it might contain
+made him shudder for what he knew; and as the future began to paint
+terrors without end, he suddenly nipped the arm of his silent,
+thoughtful companion.
+
+"There! there!" he said, "we are thinking about ourselves, man."
+
+"No," said Bayle, in a deep, sad voice, "I was thinking about them."
+
+"It's my belief," said Sir Gordon, half angrily, "that you have gone on
+all these years past thinking about them.  But come!  We must act.  Tell
+me about the letter.  Do you say he wrote to you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But why to you?  He must have hated you with all his heart."
+
+"I believe he did," replied Bayle.  "Even my love for his child was a
+grievance to him."
+
+"And yet he wrote to you, enclosing the letter to his wife."
+
+"I suppose he felt that I should not forsake them in their distress; and
+that whatever changes might have taken place my whereabouts would be
+known--a clergyman being easily traced.  See!"
+
+He took another letter from his pocket, and stopped beneath a gas-lamp.
+
+"No, no, I cannot read it by this light; tell me what he says,"
+exclaimed Sir Gordon.
+
+"The letter is directed to me at King's Castor, and above the direction
+Hallam has written, `If Rev Christie Bayle has left King's Castor, the
+postal authorities are requested to find his address from the Clerical
+Directory.'  The people at Castor of course knew my address, and sent it
+on."
+
+"Yes, I see.  Well, well, what does he say?"
+
+Bayle read, in a calm, clear voice, the following letter:
+
+  "Prison, Nulla Nulla,--
+
+  "Port Jackson, Australia,--
+
+  "December 9th, 18--.
+
+  "Sir,--
+
+  "You and I were never friends, and in my trouble perhaps you were
+  harder on me than you need have been.  But I always believed you to be
+  a true gentleman, and that you liked my wife and child.  I can trust
+  no one else but a clergyman, being a convict; but your profession must
+  make you ready, like our chaplain here, to hear all our troubles, so I
+  write to ask you to help me by placing the letter enclosed in my
+  wife's hands, and in none other's.  It is for her sight alone.
+
+  "I cannot offer to reward you for doing me this service, but I ask you
+  to do a good turn to a suffering man, who has gone through a deal
+  since you saw him.
+
+  "Please mark: the letter is to be given to my wife alone, or to my
+  child.  If they are both dead, the letter is to be sent back to me
+  unopened, as I tell you it contains private matters, only relating to
+  my wife and me.
+
+  "I am, Reverend Sir,--
+
+  "Your obedient, humble servant,--
+
+  "Robert Hallam, 9749.
+
+  "To the Rev Christie Bayle,--
+
+  "Curate of King's Castor."
+
+"Why, the fellow seems to have grown vulgarised and coarse in style.
+That is not the sort of letter our old manager would have written."
+
+"The handwriting is greatly changed too."
+
+"Of course it is his?"
+
+"Oh, yes; there is no doubt about it.  The change is natural, if the
+life the poor wretches lead out there be as bad as I have heard."
+
+"Hah!  I don't suppose they find them feather beds, Bayle."
+
+"If half I know be true," said Bayle indignantly, "the place is a
+horror.  It is a scandal to our country and our boasted Christianity!"
+
+"What, Botany Bay?"
+
+"The whole region of the penal settlement."
+
+"There, there, Bayle! you are too easy, man!  You infect me.  I shall
+begin to repent of my share in sending that fellow out of the country.
+Let's get back.  We must have been out here an hour."
+
+"An hour and a half," said Bayle, looking at his watch.  "Yes; we will
+ask if they can see us to-night.  We will not press it if they prefer to
+be alone."
+
+Thisbe must have been in the passage, the door was opened so quickly.
+Her face was harder than ever, and her moustache, by the light of the
+candle upon the bracket, looked like a dark line drawn by a smutty
+finger.  There was a defiant look, too, in her eyes; but it was evident
+that she had been crying, as she ushered the friends into the room where
+Mrs Hallam was sittings with Julia kneeling at her feet and resting her
+arms upon her mother's knees.
+
+Both rose as Bayle and Sir Gordon entered.
+
+"We only wish to say good-night," said the latter apologetically.
+
+"I have been expecting you both for some time," said Mrs Hallam calmly;
+but it was plain to her friends that she was fighting hard to master her
+emotion.
+
+Sir Gordon signed to Bayle to speak, but the latter remained closed of
+lip, and the silence became most painful.
+
+Julia looked wistfully at her mother, whose face was transfigured by the
+joy that illumined it once more, though it had no reflection in her
+child's face, which was rendered sad by the traces of the tears that she
+had lately shed.
+
+"Your husband is well?" said Bayle at last, for Mrs Hallam was looking
+at him reproachfully.
+
+"Yes, oh yes, he is quite well," she said proudly; and something of her
+old feeling seemed to come back, for the eyes that looked from Sir
+Gordon to Bayle gave a defiant flash.
+
+"Well?" she said impatiently, as if weary of waiting to be questioned.
+
+"Do you wish your friends to know the contents of your husband's
+letter?"
+
+"Yes!" she cried; "all that is not of a private nature."
+
+Bayle paused again.  Then his lips parted, but no words came; and Sir
+Gordon saw that there was a tender, yearning look in his eyes, a pitying
+expression in his face.
+
+Then he seemed to recover himself.  He moistened his feverish lips, and
+said in a low, pained voice:
+
+"Then the term of his imprisonment is over?  He is coming back?"
+
+"My poor husband was sentenced to exile for life," said Mrs Hallam,
+with her head erect, as if she were defending the reputation of a
+patriot.
+
+"But he has received pardon?"
+
+"No.  The world is still unjust."
+
+Sir Gordon met her eyes full of reproach; but as she gazed at him her
+features softened, and she took a step forward and caught his hand.
+
+"Forgive my bitterness," she said quickly.  "It was all a grievous
+error.  Only, now that this message has come from beyond the seas,"--she
+unconsciously adopted the language used a short time before--"the old
+wound seems to be opened and to bleed afresh."
+
+Bayle had uttered a sigh of relief at her words respecting the injustice
+of the world, and he waited till Mrs Hallam turned to him again.
+
+"I wish to be plain--to speak as I should at another time, but I am too
+agitated, too much overcome with the great joy that has fallen to me at
+last--the joy for which I have prayed so long.  At times it seems a
+dream--as if I were mocked by one of the visions that have haunted my
+nights; but I know it is true.  I have his words here--here!"
+
+She snatched the letter from her breast, her eyes sparkling and a
+feverish flush coming into her face, while, as she stood there in the
+softened light shed by the lamp, her lips apart, and a glint of her
+white teeth just seen, it seemed to both Bayle and Sir Gordon that the
+Millicent Luttrell of the old days was before them.  Even the tones of
+her voice had lost their harshness, and sounded mellow and round.
+
+They stood wondering and rapt, noticing the transformation, the animated
+way; the eager excitement, as of one longing to take action, after an
+enforced sealing up of every energy; and as they stood before her
+half-stunned in thought, she seemed to gather the force they lost, and
+mentally towered above them in her words.
+
+"You ask me of his letter," she said at last, half bitterly, but again
+fighting this bitterness down.  "I will tell you what he says to me and
+to his child."
+
+"Yes," said Bayle, almost mechanically; and in the same half-stunned way
+he looked from her to Julia, who stood with her hands clasped and
+hanging before her, wistful, troubled, and evidently in pain.
+
+"Yes, Mrs Hallam," said Sir Gordon, for she had sought his eyes as she
+released those of Bayle, "tell me what he says."
+
+She paused with the letter in her hands, holding it pressed against her
+bosom.  Then raising it slowly, she placed it against her lips, and
+remained silent for what seemed an interminable time.
+
+At last she spoke, and there was a strange solemnity in her words as she
+said in less deep tones:
+
+"It is the voice of the husband and father away beyond, the wild seas--
+there on the other side of the wide world, speaking to the wife and
+child he loves, and its essence is, `I am weary of waiting--wife--
+child--I bid you come.'"
+
+As she spoke, Bayle felt his legs tremble, and he involuntarily caught
+at a chair, tilting it forward and resting upon its back till, as she
+said the last words, he spasmodically snatched his hands from the chair,
+which fell with a heavy crash into the grate.
+
+It was not noticed by any there, only by Thisbe, who ran to the door in
+alarm, as Bayle was speaking excitedly.
+
+"No, no.  It is impossible.  You could not go!"
+
+"My husband tells me," continued Mrs Hallam, gazing now at Sir Gordon,
+who seemed to shrink and grow older of aspect than before--"that after
+such a long probation as his the Government have some compassion towards
+the poor exiles in their charge; that they extend certain privileges to
+them, and ameliorate their sufferings; that his wife and child would be
+allowed to see him, and that under certain restrictions he would be free
+so long as he did not attempt to leave the colony."
+
+"It is too horrible!" groaned Sir Gordon to himself, as in imagination
+he saw the horrors of the penal settlement, and this gently-nurtured
+woman and her child landed there.
+
+"I say it is impossible," said Bayle again; and there were firmness and
+anger combined in his tones.  "Mrs Hallam, you must not think of it."
+
+"Not think of it?" she said sternly.
+
+"For your own sake: no."
+
+"You say this to me, Christie Bayle?"
+
+"Yes, to you; and if I must bring forward a stronger argument--for your
+child's sake you must not go."
+
+A look that was half joy, half grief, flashed from Julia's eyes; and
+Mrs Hallam looked to her, and took her hand firmly in her own.
+
+"Will you tell me why, Mr Bayle?" she said sternly.
+
+"I could not.  I dare not," he said firmly.  "Believe me, though, when I
+tell you this.  As your friend--as Julia's protector, almost
+foster-father--knowing what I do, I have mastered everything possible,
+from the Government minutes and despatches, respecting the penal
+settlement out there.  It is no place for two tender women.  Mrs
+Hallam, it is impossible for you to go."
+
+"Again I ask you why?" said Mrs Hallam sternly.
+
+"I cannot--I dare not paint to you what you would have to go through,"
+said Bayle almost fiercely.
+
+"Mrs Hallam," said Sir Gordon, coming to his aid; "what he says is
+right.  Believe me too.  You cannot: you must not go."
+
+There was a pause for a few moments, and then Mrs Hallam drew her child
+more closely to her side.
+
+"You dare not paint the horrors that await us there, Christie Bayle,"
+she then said in a softened tone.  "There is no need.  The recital would
+fall on barren ground.  The horrors suffered by the husband and father,
+his wife and child will gladly dare."
+
+"You cannot.  You shall not.  For God's sake pause!"
+
+"When my husband bids me come?  Christie Bayle, you do not know me yet,"
+she said softly.
+
+"But, Mrs Hallam--Millicent, my child!" cried Sir Gordon imploringly.
+
+"I cannot listen to your appeals," she said in a piteous tone, and with
+the tears at last gushing from her aching eyes.
+
+"Ah," cried Bayle excitedly, "she is giving way.  Millicent Luttrell,
+for your own, for your child's sake, you will stay."
+
+She rose up proudly once more.
+
+"Millicent _Hallam_ and her child will go."
+
+Sir Gordon made an imploring movement.
+
+"It is to obtain his release, Julie, my child!" said Mrs Hallam in a
+tender voice, "the release of our long-suffering martyr.  What say you?
+He calls to us from beyond the seas to come and help him, what must we
+do?"
+
+Again there was a painful silence in that room, every breath seemed to
+be held till Julia said, in a low, dreamy voice:
+
+"Mother, we must go."
+
+As she ended, a faint sigh escaped her lips, and she sank as if
+insensible upon her mother's breast.
+
+"Yes," cried Millicent Hallam, gazing straight before her, "were the
+world a hundred times as wide."
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER SIX.
+
+IN HER SERVICE.
+
+No, not even to Julia--his own child--for that part of the letter was a
+commission for her alone to execute.  After all these long years of
+absence he sent her his orders--he, the dear husband of her first love.
+
+And, oh! the joy, the intense delight of being able at last to execute
+his wishes, to work and strive for him, following out his most minute
+commands.
+
+It was a long letter, containing few words of affection, but those she
+found studded through the ill-written pages, that seemed to have been
+the work of one who had not touched pen for years, a word that bore a
+loving guise, shining brightly here and there, as Millicent kissed it
+with all the fervour of a girl.
+
+He said that he had not heard from her all these years, and that she
+might have written; that he had had to suffer fearful hardships, which
+he would not inflict upon her, though he was explicit enough to draw
+agonised tears from the loving woman's eyes; that he had had much to
+endure, mentally and bodily; that his health had been often bad, and so
+on, right through the greater portion of the letter.
+
+It never struck the patient wife that Hallam barely alluded to her, or
+suggested that she must have suffered terribly during his long absence.
+He had left her absolutely penniless, after ruining her father and
+mother; but here was his first letter, and there was not an allusion to
+how she had managed to struggle on for all this time--how had she lived?
+what had she done? how had she managed to keep her child?
+
+Not a word of this kind; but it did not trouble the woman who knew all
+his pains and sufferings by heart, for she was hungering for news of him
+to whom she had blindly given herself, and the letter was full of that.
+
+She did not wish to bathe her sorrowing face in the fount of her own
+tears, but in the fount of his, and she greedily drank in every word and
+allusion, making each the text which she mentally expanded in the
+silence of the night, till she seemed to be reading the complete history
+of her husband's life for the past twelve years.
+
+Certainly he hoped she was quite well, and that little Julie was the
+same.  He supposed she would be so grown that he should hardly know her
+again, but he hoped she would not have forgotten him.
+
+He made but little allusion to his sentence.  And here perhaps Millicent
+Hallam felt a little disappointed, for he dealt in no severe strictures
+against those who had caused his punishment, neither did he reiterate
+his innocency.  He merely said that he supposed Australia would always
+be his home now; and that she was to part with everything she possessed,
+take passage in the first ship with Julie, and come and join him at
+once--he would explain their future when she came.
+
+No word about the old people either; or the repugnance wife and child
+might feel to leaving home to go to a strange land to join a convict
+father--not a word of this, for they were his wife and child.  He wanted
+them, and he bade them come.
+
+Millicent Hallam knew that the letter was selfish in the extreme, but it
+was the kind of selfishness that elated her, and filled her with joy.
+
+He was innocent; he had suffered in silence a very martyrdom, all these
+years; but she was still the one woman in the world to him, and he had
+turned to her to bid her come and chase away his cares.
+
+Blindly infatuated, strong, and yet weak as a girl; foolish in her trust
+in an utterly heartless and selfish, scoundrel; but how loving!  Her
+young heart had opened like a flower at the breath of his love.  He had
+been the sun that had warmed it with that wondrous new life, and it
+wanted something far stronger than occasional harshness, neglect, or the
+charges of man against man, to tear out the belief that had fast rooted
+itself in Millicent Hallam's nature.
+
+Blame--pity--what you will, and then thank God that in spite of modern
+society ways, follies of fashion, errors of education, weakness, vanity,
+and the hundred biassing influences, the world abounds with such loving,
+trusting women, always has done so, and always will to the very end.
+
+One great joy that seemed to take ten years from her life as she read
+and re-read that letter to herself, and to Julie, who became infected by
+her mother's enthusiasm, and at last believed that she was gladdened by
+the news, and sobbed in secret, she knew not why, as she thought of the
+time of parting.
+
+But there was that one portion of the letter separated by two broad
+lines, ruled evidently with the pen drawn along the side of an old book,
+the rough edges showing where the point of a spluttering quill pen
+dipped in coarse ink had followed each irregularity.
+
+Here are the lines that Robert Hallam emphasised by a few warning words
+at the beginning, telling her that they were of vital importance.
+
+"_And mind this, by carefully and secretly following out my
+instructions, you will free your husband from this wretched, degraded
+life_."
+
+Could she want a greater impulse than that last to make her dwell upon
+his words, and prepare herself to execute the instructions which
+followed to the letter?
+
+"He may trust me," she said with a smile, as she carefully cut these
+instructions out of the letter, gummed them upon a piece of paper, and
+doubling this, carefully hid it in her purse.
+
+There was a poignant feeling of pity and remorse in Millicent Hallam's
+breast the next morning when, in spite of the way in which her heart was
+filled with the thoughts of their coming journey, the recollection of
+Christie Bayle's tender care for them both pierced its way in like some
+keen point.
+
+"I cannot help it," she cried passionately.  "It is my duty, and he will
+soon forget us."
+
+But when he of whom she thought came that morning, looking grave and
+pale, her heart reproached her more and more, for she knew that he was
+not of the kind to forget.  This knowledge influenced her words and the
+tone of her voice, as she laid her hand in his, and then passed her arm
+round Julie.
+
+"Once more," she said, with a sad smile, "you are going in your
+unselfishness to help me, Christie Bayle."
+
+"Are you still determined?" he said, with a slight tremor in his voice,
+which grew firm directly, even stern.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Have you thought of the peril of the voyage for yourself and for
+Julie?"
+
+"Yes; of everything."
+
+"The wild, strange life out yonder; your future--have you thought of
+this?"
+
+"Yes, yes!" said Millicent Hallam calmly.  "Can you ask me these
+questions, and at such a time?"
+
+Christie Bayle remained silent, looking stern and cold; but it was a
+mere mask.  He could not trust himself to speak, lest he should grow by
+turns piteous of appeal, angry and denunciatory of manner, so fully did
+he realise the horrors of the fate to which this man's wife in her blind
+faith was hurrying.
+
+"Do not think me ungrateful, dear friend," she continued.  "I cannot
+tell you how in my heart of hearts the truest gratitude dwells for all
+that you have done.  Christie! brother!  I am again in terrible
+distress.  This once more you will be my help and stay?"
+
+She approached and took his hand, raising it to her lips, feeling
+startled it was so icily cold.
+
+But the next moment a change came over him, his sternness seemed to
+melt, his old manner to come back, as he said gently:
+
+"You know that you have only to speak and I shall do all you wish; but
+let us sit down, and talk calmly and dispassionately about this letter.
+There, I will be only the true, candid friend.  I do not attempt to
+fight against your present feeling; I only ask you to wait, to give the
+matter quiet consideration for a few days.  It seems impertinent of me
+to speak of rashness; but before you decide to give up your little
+home--"
+
+"Hush!" said Mrs Hallam firmly; and the bright light in her daughter's
+eyes died out.  "Do not speak to me like this.  No consideration, no
+time could change me.  Christie Bayle, think for a moment.  For twelve
+long years I have been praying for this letter.  From my heart I felt it
+hopeless to expect my husband's pardon.  Now the letter has come, you
+ask me to wait--to consider--to give up this plan--to refuse to obey
+these commands.  Of what kind do you think my love for my husband?"
+
+Bayle drew a long breath, and remained silent for quite a minute, while
+Julia watched him with a strange wrinkling of her broad, fair brow.  The
+silence was painful, but at last he broke it, speaking as if the
+question had been that moment put.
+
+"As of the love of a true wife.  Yes, I will help you to the end.  Tell
+me what you wish me to do?"
+
+Julia turned away her face, for the tears were falling softly down her
+cheeks, but they were not seen by the other occupants of the room.
+
+"I knew I could count upon you," said Mrs Hallam eagerly, and as if in
+hot haste.  "I know it will be a bitter pang to part from where I have
+spent these--yes, happy years; but it is our duty, and I will not waste
+an hour.  I am only a helpless woman, Mr Bayle, so I must look to you."
+
+He nodded quickly.
+
+"My husband bids me part with everything that remains of my little
+property."
+
+"Did he say that?" said Bayle dryly.
+
+"He said, part with everything, take passage in the first ship, and come
+and join me."
+
+Bayle nodded.
+
+"Then we shall pack up just sufficient necessaries for our voyage, Julie
+and I; and everything else must be sold.  I shall realise enough to pay
+our passage from my furniture."
+
+"Oh, yes, certainly," said Bayle quickly; "and you will have to spare."
+
+"And the ship; what am I to do?  Oh! here is Sir Gordon, he will know."
+
+There was the tap of the ebony cane upon the pavement, a well-known
+knock, and, looking very wrinkled and careworn, Sir Gordon came in,
+glancing suspiciously from one to the other.
+
+"Not the time to call, perhaps.  I'm not Bayle here; but I've not had a
+wink of sleep all night, thinking of that outrageous letter, and so I
+came up at once to tell you, my dears, that it's all outrageous madness.
+He--he must be out of his mind to propose it.  I'll--I'll do anything!
+I'll see the Secretary of State!  I'll try for a remission--a pardon!
+but you two girls--you children--you cannot, you shall not go out
+there!"
+
+Mrs Hallam's eyes flashed at this renewed opposition; but she crossed
+to the old man, took his hand, and led him to a chair by the window,
+where she began talking to him earnestly, while Bayle turned to Julie.
+
+"And so you are going?" he said tenderly.
+
+She gave him one quick look and then said:
+
+"Yes.  It is my father's wish."
+
+Bayle gazed down at her sweet face, then wildly about the room, as
+memories of hundreds of happy lessons and conversations flowed back.
+Then his lips tightened, his brow smoothed, and he said in a cold, hard
+way: "The path of duty seems difficult at times, Julie, but we must
+tramp it without hesitating."
+
+"And you, too, will help me?"  Mrs Hallam said aloud.  "Any way, in
+anything," said Sir Gordon sadly.  "I would sail you both over in my
+yacht, but it would be madness to expose you to the risk.  Yes; I'll do
+the best I can to get you a passage in a good ship.  Yes--yes--yes!
+I'll do my best."
+
+He looked at Bayle in a troubled way, but found no sympathy in the cold,
+stern face that seemed to be unchanged when they left together an hour
+later, each pledged to do his best to expatriate two tender women, and
+so send them to what was then a wilderness of misery--and worse.
+
+"It must be, I suppose, Bayle, my dear boy?" said Sir Gordon.
+
+"Yes; it must be," was the reply.
+
+"I'm glad she says she will go down to Castor first, and stay a few days
+with the old people."
+
+"Did she say that?"
+
+"Yes.  It made me wonder whether she could be persuaded to leave Julie
+with them."
+
+"No," said Bayle firmly; "they would never part, because he has ordered
+her to bring their child."
+
+"Yes; I saw that.  Ah, Bayle, it's a bad business; but we must make the
+best of it.  Confound it all! why am I worrying myself about other
+people's troubles?  Here am I, an old man, with plenty of money and
+nothing to do but take care of myself and make myself happy, and live as
+long as I can.  I say, why am I pestered with other people's troubles?"
+
+Bayle smiled sadly, and laid one hand upon that which rested upon his
+arm.
+
+"Simply because you are a true man, that is all."  They parted soon
+afterwards, Sir Gordon to visit a friend in Whitehall, Bayle to speak to
+an auctioneer about the furniture and effects at the little house,
+giving orders to sell his own property to supply the funds for the
+voyage, and then to make a supposed further sale of Consols to realise
+the capital which Millicent Hallam honestly believed to be her own.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE OLD HOME.
+
+Millicent Hallam was closely veiled as she descended from the coach at
+the inn-door, while Julia's handsome young face was free for the knot of
+gossips of the little town to notice, as they clustered about as of old
+to see who came in the coach and who were going on.
+
+A quiet, drab-looking man had just handed a basket to the guard and was
+turning away, when he caught sight of Julia's face and stopped suddenly.
+
+"Bless my soul, Mrs Hallam!  Oh!  I beg your pardon," he stammered; "I
+thought--why, it must be Miss--and Mr Bayle, I--I really--I--"
+
+He could not speak.  The tears stood in his eyes, and he stood there
+shaking away at both of Christie Bayle's hands for some moments before
+he became aware of Millicent Hallam's presence.
+
+"Only to think," he cried; "but come along."
+
+"We are going up to the doctor's," said Bayle.
+
+"Yes, yes, you shall; but pray come into my place--only for a minute.
+My wife will be so--so very pleased to see--Ah, my dear, how you have
+grown!"
+
+James Thickens had become aware that his eccentric behaviour was
+exciting attention, so he hurried the visitors up to his house.
+
+"Your people are quite well, Mrs Hallam," he said, hardly noticing that
+there was a curious distance in her manner towards him.  "They're not
+expecting you, for the doctor was in the bank this morning, and he would
+have been sure to tell me."
+
+Mrs Hallam could not speak.  She had felt so strengthened by
+tribulation, so hardened by trouble, that she had told herself that she
+could visit King's Castor and her old home without emotion; but as she
+alighted from the coach, the sight of the place and their house brought
+back so vividly the troubles of the past, and her misery as Robert
+Hallam's wife, that her knees trembled, and, but for Julia's arm, she
+could hardly have gone on.
+
+"Be brave," whispered a voice at her ear as Thickens prattled on.  "This
+is not like you."
+
+She darted a grateful look through her veil at Christie Bayle, almost
+wondering at the same time that he should have noticed her emotion.
+Once she glanced back towards their old house; and her heart gave a
+throb as she saw there was a painted board upon the front, which could
+only mean one thing--that it was to let.
+
+All feeling of distance and coldness was chased away as Thickens opened
+the door and let them in to where a plump, pleasant-looking, little,
+elderly lady was sitting busily knitting, and so changed from the Miss
+Heathery they had all known that Bayle gazed at her wonderingly.
+
+The plump little body started up excitedly and then dropped back in her
+chair, turning white and then red.  She gasped and pressed her hands
+upon her sides, and then looked up helplessly.
+
+"Why, don't you know who it is?" cried Thickens with boisterous
+hospitality in his tones.
+
+"Know?  Yes, James, I know; but what a turn it has given me!  My dear--
+my darling!--oh, I--I--I--I am so glad to see you again."
+
+The little woman had recovered herself and had caught Mrs Hallam to her
+breast, rocking her to and fro and clinging to her so affectionately
+that Millicent's tears began to flow.
+
+Bayle turned aside, moved by the warmth of the faithful little woman's
+affection, when he felt a dig in his side from an elbow.
+
+"Come and have a look at my gold fish, Mr Bayle," said a husky voice;
+and with true delicacy Thickens hurried him out, and along his rose-path
+to where the gold and silver fish were basking in the spring afternoon
+sun.  "Let them have their cry out together," he whispered.  "My little
+woman quite worships Mrs Hallam.  There isn't a day but she talks about
+her, and I'd promised to bring her up to town this summer to see her
+again."
+
+Meantime little Mrs Thickens had left Mrs Hallam, to make wet spots
+all over Julia's cheeks as she kissed and fondled her.
+
+"My beautiful darling," she sobbed; "and grown so like--oh, so like--
+and--and--oh! if I had only known."
+
+The reception was so strange, the little lady's ways so droll, that, in
+spite of the weariness of her journey and the trouble hanging over her
+young life, Julia had felt amused; but the next moment she was clinging
+to little Mrs Thickens, warmly returning her embrace and feeling a
+girlish delight in the affectionate caresses showered upon her by her
+mother's simple old friend.
+
+The stay was but short, for Millicent Hallam was trembling to see her
+old home and those she loved once more.
+
+How little changed all seemed!  A dozen years had worked no alterations.
+The old shops, the old houses, just the same.
+
+Yes, there was one change; Mr Gemp sitting at his door, not standing,
+and with movement left apparently in one part only--his head, which
+turned towards them, with a fixed look, as they went down the street,
+and turned and followed them till they were out of sight.
+
+"How I recollect it all!" whispered Julia, as she held her mother's arm.
+"That old man who used to make Thisbe so cross.  Walk more quickly,
+mamma, he is calling out our name to some one."
+
+It was true; and, as the words seemed to pursue them, Julia uttered an
+angry ejaculation, as she heard a sob escape from her mother's breast.
+
+"Hi!  Gorringe, here's that shack Hallam's wife come down.  Quick! dost
+ta hear?"
+
+Bayle had stayed back with Thickens to allow his travelling companions
+to go to the cottage alone, or these words might not have been uttered.
+
+And as they appeared to come hissing through the air, Millicent Hallam
+seemed to realise more and more how Bayle had been their protector, and
+how she had done wisely in fleeing from the little town, where every
+flaw in a man's life was noted and remembered to the end.
+
+"How dare he?" cried Julia indignantly; and her young eyes flashed.
+"Mother, we ought not to have come down here."
+
+"Hush, my child!" said Mrs Hallam softly; "who are we that we cannot
+bear patiently a few revolting words?  If we were guilty, there would be
+a sting."
+
+The episode was forgotten as they passed out of the town, and along the
+pleasant road, nearer and nearer to the sweet old home.  For Millicent
+Hallam's breath came more quickly.  She threw back her veil; her eyes
+brightened, and her pale cheeks flushed.
+
+There it all was, unchanged.  The great hedges, the yews, the shrubs,
+and the pleasant rose and creeper-covered cottage, with its glittering
+windows, and door beneath the rustic porch, open as if to give them
+welcome.
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" cried Julia eagerly, and her voice sounding full of
+excitement; "I am beginning to remember it all again so well.  I know,
+yes--the gate fastening inside.  I'll undo it.  Up this path, and
+grandpapa used to be there busy by his frames--round past the big green
+hedge, where grandmamma's seat used to be, so that she could watch him
+while he was at work.  And I used to run--and, oh! yes, yes, there!
+Grandpa! grandpa! here we are."
+
+Had the past twelve years dropped away?  Millicent Hallam asked herself,
+as, seeing all dimly through a veil of tears, she heard Julia's words,
+excited, broken, with all a child's surging excitement and delight, as
+she ran from her side, across the smooth lawn to where that grey little
+old lady sat beneath the yew hedge, to swoop down upon her, folding her
+in one quick caress, and then, before she had recovered from her
+surprise, darting away, and off the path, over the newly-dug ground, to
+where that grey old gentleman dropped the hoe with which he was drawing
+a furrow for his summer marrowfats.
+
+The twelve years had dropped from Julia's mind for the time, and, a
+child once more, she was clinging to and kissing the old man, with whom
+she returned to where her mother was kneeling, locked in Mrs Luttrell's
+arms.
+
+"The dear, dear, dear old place!" cried Julia, with childlike ecstasy.
+"Grandpa, grandma, we're come down to stay, and we must never leave you
+again."
+
+She stopped, trembling, her beautiful eyes dilated, and a feeling of
+chilling despair clutching at her heart, as her mother turned her
+ghastly face towards her, and her name seemed to float to her ears and
+away into the distance, in a cry that was like the wail of a stricken,
+desolate heart.
+
+"Julia!"
+
+"Mother, dearest mother, forgive me!" she cried, as she threw herself
+upon her breast, sobbing as if her heart would break.  "I did not think:
+I had forgotten all."
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+JULIA SEEMS STRANGE.
+
+It was as if that forlorn cry uttered by Millicent Hallam pervaded their
+visit to the old home.  It was a happy reunion, but how full of pain!
+Joy and sorrow were hand in hand.  It was life in its greatest truth.
+
+The sweet, peaceful old home, with its garden in the early livery of
+spring; the fragrance of the opening leaves; the delicious odour of the
+earth after the soft rain that had fallen in the night; the early
+flowers, all so bright in the clear country air, to those who had been
+pent up in town; while clear ringing, and each tuned to that wondrous
+pitch that thrills the heart in early spring, there were the notes of
+the birds.
+
+Millicent Hallam's eyes closed as she stood in that garden, clasping her
+child's hand in hers, and listening to each love-tuned call.  The
+thrush, that; now soft, mellow, and so sweet that the tears came, there
+was the blackbird's pipe; then again, from overhead, that pleasant
+little sharp "pink, pink," of the chaffinch, followed by its musical
+treble, as of liquid gems falling quickly into glass; while far above in
+the clear blue sky, softened by the distance, came the lark's song--a
+song she had not listened to for a dozen years.
+
+"For the last time--for the last time, good-bye, dear home, good-bye!"
+
+"Mother!"
+
+"Did I speak?" said Millicent, starting.
+
+"Speak?" cried Julia excitedly.  "Oh, mother, dear mother, your words
+seemed so strange; they almost break my heart."
+
+"Hearts do not break, Julie," said Mrs Hallam softly; "they can bear so
+much, my darling, so much."
+
+"But you spoke as if you never thought to see this dear old place
+again."
+
+"Did I, my child?" said Mrs Hallam, dreamily, as she gazed wistfully
+round.  "Well, who knows? who knows?  Life cannot be all joy, and we
+must be prepared for change."
+
+"And we must go, mother, away--to that place?"
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Hallam sternly, and she drew herself up, and seemed as
+if she were trying to harden her heart against the weakness of her
+child.
+
+It had been a painful meeting, over which Mrs Luttrell had broken down,
+while the old doctor had stood with quivering lip.
+
+"I can't say a word, my child.  I could only beg of you to stay."
+
+"And tear and wring my heart anew, dear father," Millicent had said in
+return with many a tender caress.
+
+Then the old people had pleaded that Julia might remain; and there had
+been another painful scene, and the night of their coming had been
+indeed a mingling of joy and sorrow.
+
+Bayle had been up to sit with them for a short time in the evening; but
+with kindly delicacy he had left soon, and at last sleep had given some
+relief to the sorrow-stricken hearts in the old home.
+
+Then had come the glorious spring morning, and, stealing through the
+garden, mother and child had felt their hearts lifted by the mysterious
+influence of the budding year, till over all, like a cloud, came
+Millicent's farewell to the home she would never see again.
+
+Prophetic and true--or the false imaginings of a sorrow-charged brain?
+Who could say?
+
+The stay was to be but short, for they returned that night by the coach
+which passed through, as it had gone on passing since that night when
+the agonised wife had sat watching for the news from the assize town.
+
+"It will be better so," Millicent Hallam had said.  "It will be less
+painful to my dear ones in the old home, and Julie.  Christie Bayle, I
+could not bear this strain for long.  We must finish and away.  He is
+waiting for us now."
+
+About midday Bayle came up to the cottage, quiet and grave as ever, but
+with a smile for Julia, as she hurried to meet him, Millicent coming
+more slowly behind.
+
+"I have brought the keys," he said.  "I found they were in Mr
+Thickens's charge.  May I give you a word of advice?"
+
+"Always," said Mrs Hallam smiling; but he noticed that she was deadly
+pale.
+
+"I would not stay there long.  I understand the feeling that prompts you
+to visit the old home again.  See it and come away, for it must be full
+of painful memories; and now you must be firm and strong."
+
+"Yes, yes," she said quickly.  "You will stay here?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied.
+
+"You are going out?" cried Julia.
+
+"I must see our old home again, before I go," said Mrs Hallam, in a
+sharp, nervous manner.
+
+"And I may go with you, dear?" pleaded Julia.
+
+"No; I must go alone," said her mother in a strained, imperious manner.
+"Stay here."
+
+For answer, Julia shrank back, but only for a moment.  Then her arms
+were round her mother's neck, and she kissed her, saying:
+
+"Remember Mr Bayle's advice, dear.  Come back soon."
+
+Mrs Hallam kissed her tenderly, nodded, and hurried into the house.
+
+Ten minutes later, as Julia was seated in the little drawing-room at the
+tinkling old square piano, and Bayle was leaning forward watching her
+hands, with his arms resting upon his knees, thinking--thinking of the
+boyish curate who, in that very place, had told of his first passion,
+and then gone heart-broken away, there was a quick step on the gravel,
+and he turned to see the dark, graceful figure of the woman he had
+loved, her face closely veiled, and her travelling satchel upon her arm,
+pass through the gate, which closed with a sharp click.
+
+"To stand face to face with the ghosts of her early married life," he
+said, in a low voice.  "Heaven be merciful, and soften Thou her fate."
+
+He started, for as but a short time since Julia had heard her mother's
+audible thoughts, she had now heard his; and she was standing before
+him, pale, and with her hands clasped, as she looked in his care-lined
+face.
+
+"Julia--my child!" he said wonderingly.
+
+"I cannot bear it--I cannot bear it," she cried, bursting into a
+passionate fit of sobbing; and she fled from the room.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER NINE.
+
+THE STRANGE QUEST.
+
+"She be going to look over the owd house again, Gorringe," shouted Gemp,
+as he watched the dark veiled figure.  "You mark my words; they're a
+coming back, and he'll be keeping bank; and the sooner thou teks out thy
+money the better."
+
+There was a strange echo in the place that made a shudder run through
+Millicent Hallam's frame as she turned the key; but she had nerved
+herself to her task, and though hands and brow were damp, she did not
+hesitate, but went in.
+
+A quick glance told her that a couple of score pairs of eyes were
+watching her movements, but for that she was prepared, and, taking out
+the key, she inserted it in the inside of the lock, closed the door, and
+slipped one of the rusty bolts.
+
+"I must be firm," she muttered as she glanced round the empty hall,
+shuddering as she recalled the scene on that night, and seeming to see
+once more the crowd--the fire--her husband struggling for his life.
+
+"I will not think," she cried, stamping her foot, and placing her hands
+to her eyes, as if to shut out the terrible recollections; and an echo
+ran through the place, and seemed to go from room to room and die away
+in the great attic where Julia used to play.
+
+No; she had not come to stand face to face with the ghosts of past
+memories: she had driven them away.  She did not go into the old
+panelled dining-room, where she had watched for such long hours for her
+husband's return, neither did she turn the handle to enter the
+melancholy cobweb-hung drawing-room, or note that the papers in the
+chambers were soiled and faded and different, and that the damp made
+some hang in festoons from the corners, and other pieces fold right over
+and peel down from the wall.
+
+No; she paused for none of these, but, as if moved by some strong
+impulse, ran right up to the top of the house, and stood in the great
+attic lumber-room, brightly lit by a skylight, and a dormer at the
+farther end.
+
+Then, with her heart beating quickly, she took from her bosom the
+portion she had cut from Hallam's letter, and read it in a low, hoarse
+voice.
+
+  "Go to Castor if you have left there, and get possession of the old
+  house for a day if it is empty.  If not, you must get there by some
+  excuse that your woman's wit may find.  As a last resource, take it,
+  and buy the tenant out at any cost, but get there.  Go alone, and take
+  with you a hammer and screw-driver.  Shut yourself up securely in the
+  place, and then go upstairs to the attic where we kept the old lumber.
+  There, on the right-hand side of the fireplace, in the built-up wall,
+  just one foot from the floor, and right in the centre, drive in the
+  screw-driver with the hammer, and chip away the plaster.  Do not fail.
+  You will find there a little recess carefully plastered, and papered
+  over.  In that recess is a small locked tin box.  Take it out, and
+  bring it to me unopened.  That box contains papers of vital importance
+  to me, for they will set me free.
+
+  "Read above again.  Strike in the screw-driver boldly, for the box is
+  there, and I charge you, my wife, to bring it safely and untouched to
+  me.
+
+  "Once more, this must be secretly done.  No one must know but you.  If
+  it were known, I might not succeed in getting my liberty."
+
+Millicent Hallam thrust the paper back in her bosom and stood there in
+that unoccupied room with a strange buzzing in her ears, and films
+floating before her eyes.
+
+"I am choking," she gasped; "water--air."
+
+She reeled, and seemed about to fall, but by a supreme effort she forced
+her tottering way to the dormer window, opened it, and the fresh air
+recovered her.
+
+"Oh, for strength--strength!" she gasped as she clung to the sill.  "It
+is for his freedom--to save him I am come."
+
+Her words gave her the force, and, looking down, she saw that her act
+had been observed by those who watched the house.
+
+That gave her additional strength, and, with a look of contempt, she
+closed the window and was calm.  Quickly opening her bag, she took from
+it a stout short hammer and a screw-driver.
+
+"I must risk the noise," she said, as she drew off her gloves; and then
+noting the spot described in the directions, she found the paper ready
+to peel off on being touched, and placing the screw-driver just where
+she had been told, she struck the end sharply and stopped, trembling,
+for the blow resounded throughout the house.
+
+The cold sweat gathered on her face, and she began to tremble; but,
+smiling at her fears, she doubled her gloves, held them on the top of
+the screw-driver, and struck again and again, driving the chisel end
+right into the plaster, through which, after a blow or two, it passed,
+and her heart throbbed, for there was the hollow place behind, just as
+the letter said.
+
+At that moment there was a loud sound without, as of a blow upon the
+front door, and she stopped, trembling, to listen.
+
+No; it was the jolt of a heavy-laden springiest cart, and as it rattled
+over the cobble-stones she struck again and again with quick haste at
+the plaster, and then, wrenching, tore out piece after piece, till she
+could thrust in her hand to utter a cry of joy, for she touched a tin
+box.
+
+The rest was the work of a few minutes.  She had only to enlarge the
+hole a little, and then she could draw out that of which she was in
+search--a black, dust-covered tin box about the width and depth of an
+ordinary brick, but a couple or three inches longer.
+
+Her hands were scratched and bleeding, and covered with lime, but she
+did not heed that in her excitement.  Raising the box to her lips she
+kissed it, and taking out her kerchief wiped from it the dust.  Then she
+asked herself the question, what should she do next, now that the
+treasure, the sacred papers that should prove her husband's innocence,
+were found?  It was easy enough.  The box was light, as one containing
+papers would be, and would just pass into her travelling satchel.  That,
+was soon done and the strings drawn.  Then there were the hammer and
+screw-driver.
+
+She looked around.  There was a loose board close by, easily lifted, and
+down beneath this she thrust the hammer, while a rat-hole at the base of
+the wall invited occupation for the screw-driver.
+
+The plaster?  The wall?  She could do nothing there.  It was impossible
+to hide that, and she stood trembling again.  But who would suspect her,
+if any one came?  She glanced at herself, brushed off a few scraps of
+plaster, and put on her gloves over her bleeding hands.  A thought
+struck her: she might lock the door of the attic.
+
+Again she started, for there was a sound below, a loud rat-tat at the
+front door, and she stood with her heart beating horribly till she heard
+the sound of racing footsteps and a burst of children's laughter.  Some
+mischievous urchins had knocked at the door of the empty house.
+
+Forcing herself to be calm, Millicent Hallam felt the box in her bag,
+and asked herself whether she had fully obeyed her husband's command and
+succeeded.  Was this the box?  She repeated the directions with her eyes
+fixed upon the spot from whence she had extracted it.  Yes; there could
+be no mistake, she must be right, and, lowering her veil, she passed out
+of the attic with its littered floor, closed and locked the door, took
+out the key, and descended as if in a dream to the hall, where she
+paused to satisfy herself that her dress showed no traces of her work,
+and that the box was safely hidden.
+
+All was right, and she drew a long breath.
+
+And now once more came the tremor and faintness; the memories of the old
+place seemed to be crowding round her; and in the agony of her spirit
+she felt that she would faint, and perhaps all would be discovered.  She
+fought this down and another horror assailed her.  She had come there
+like a thief; she had broken open part of the house and stolen this case
+which she was bearing away, and she trembled like a leaf.  But once more
+her womanhood and faith asserted themselves.
+
+"His papers, his own hiding, in our own house," she said proudly.
+"Robert, husband, I have them safe.  I will bear them to you over the
+sea."
+
+Opening the door with firm hand she passed out, the soft pure air
+reviving her, and she started, for a well-known voice said:
+
+"I will close the door for you, Mrs Hallam.  Forgive me for coming.
+You have been so long, I had grown uneasy."
+
+"Long?" she said, looking at Bayle wildly.
+
+"Yes; time passes quickly when we are deep in thought.  It is two hours
+since you left me at the cottage."
+
+It had seemed to her but a few minutes' wild, exciting search.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER TEN.
+
+KINDLY ACTS.
+
+Tom Porter had a way of his own when he was puzzled as to his course,
+and that was to go to the door and keep a bright look-out; in other
+words, follow old Gemp's example, and stare up and down the street until
+he had attained a correct idea as to which way he had better steer.
+
+He had been looking thoughtfully out for about an hour on this
+particular night before he came to the conclusion that he knew the right
+way.  But once determined, he entered, and, closing the door softly, he
+stopped for a minute to pull himself together, rearranging his necktie,
+pulling down his vest, and carefully fastening the top and bottom
+buttons, which had a rollicking habit of working themselves clear of
+their respective holes.  His hair, too, required a little attention,
+being carefully smoothed with his fingers.  This done, he moistened his
+hands, as if about to haul a rope, before going straight up to where his
+master was seated in front of the fire which the cool spring night made
+comfortable, who, as he sat there gazing very thoughtfully in between
+the bars, said:
+
+"Well, Tom, what is it?"
+
+"Been a-thinking, Sir Gordon--hard."
+
+"Well, what about?"
+
+"'Bout you, Sir Gordon.  It's these here east winds getting into your
+bones again; as if I might be so bold--"
+
+"There, there, man, don't stand hammering and stammering like that!  You
+want to say something.  Say it."
+
+"'Bout the east wind, Sir Gordon, and whether you wouldn't think it as
+well to take a trip."
+
+"Yes, yes, man, I'm going on one--Mediterranean--in a few days," said
+the old man dreamily.
+
+"Glad to hear it, Sir Gordon; but, if I might make so bold, why not make
+a longer trip?"
+
+"Not safe--yacht not big enough, my man.  There, that will do: I want to
+think."
+
+"I mean aboard ship, Sir Gordon.  Why shouldn't we go as far as
+Australia?  We've seen a deal of the world, Sir Gordon, but we haven't
+been there."
+
+Tom Porter's master gave him a peculiar look, and then nodded towards
+the door, when the man made a nautical bow, with a very apologetic
+smile, and backed out.
+
+"Went a bit too nigh the rocks that time.  It warn't like me--but, lor!
+what a man will do when there's a woman in the way!"
+
+He had hardly settled himself in his pantry when the bell rang, and he
+went up, expecting a severe talking to.
+
+"Means a wigging!" he said, as he went up slowly, to find Sir Gordon
+pacing the room.
+
+Tom Porter did not know it, but his words had fallen just at that time
+when his master was pondering upon the possibility of such a trip, and,
+though he would not have owned to it, his man's words had turned the
+balance.
+
+"Pack up at once," he said.
+
+"Long cruise or short, Sir Gordon?"
+
+"Long."
+
+"Ay, ay, Sir Gordon.  Special dispatches, Sir Gordon?"
+
+"No; longer cruise than usual, that's all."
+
+"He's going!  I'd bet ten hundred thousand pounds he's going!" said Tom
+Porter; "and I'm done for!  She was a bit more easy last time we met;
+and I shall make a fool o' myself--I know I shall!"
+
+He stood in the middle of his pantry, turning his right and left hands
+into a pestle and mortar, and grinding something invisible therein.
+Then, after a long silence:
+
+"Its fate, that's about what it is!" said Tom Porter; "and that's a
+current that you can't fight agen."
+
+After which philosophical declaration he began to pack, working well on
+into what he called the morning watch, and long after Sir Gordon had
+been comfortably asleep.
+
+The next day Tom Porter had orders to go with his master to the
+Admiralty, where he waited for about a couple of hours; and two days
+later he was on his way to Plymouth with the sea-chests, as he termed
+them, perfectly happy, and with his shore togs, as he called his livery,
+locked up in one of the presses in the chambers in St James's.
+
+His sailing orders were brief, and he put into port at the chief hotel
+to wait for his master; and he waited.  Meantime there had been the
+painful partings between those who loved, and who, in spite of hopeful
+words, felt that in all human probability the parting was final.
+
+Through the interest of Sir Gordon, a passage had been obtained for Mrs
+Hallam and her daughter on board the _Sea King_, a fine ship, chartered
+by the Government to take out a large detachment of troops, as well as
+several important officials, bound to the Antipodes on the mission of
+trying to foster what promised to be one of our most important colonies.
+
+"You will be more comfortable," Sir Gordon said.  "There will be ladies
+on board, and I will get you some introductions to them, as well as to
+the Governor at Port Jackson."
+
+Mrs Hallam gave Bayle a piteous look, as if asking him to intercede for
+her.
+
+Bayle, however, seemed not to comprehend her look, and remained silent.
+
+It was a painful task, but Millicent Hallam was accustomed to painful
+tasks, and, turning to Sir Gordon, she said, in a quiet, resigned way:
+
+"You forget my position.  I know how kindly all this is meant; but I
+must not be going out on false pretences.  My fellow-passengers should
+not be deceived as to who and what I am.  I may seem ungrateful to you,
+but it would have been far better for me to have gone out in some common
+ship."
+
+"My dear child," cried Sir Gordon, wringing his hands, "don't be
+unreasonable!  Do you suppose the womenkind on board the _Sea King_ are
+going to be so contemptible as to visit the sins of--My dear Bayle, you
+have more influence than I!" he cried hastily; "tell Mrs Hallam
+everything is settled, and she must go, and--there, there, we've had
+knots and tangles enough, don't, pray, let us have any more!"
+
+The old gentleman, who seemed terribly perplexed, turned away, but
+paused as he felt a little hand upon his arm.
+
+"Don't speak angrily to mamma," whispered Julia; and the old man's
+countenance became wholly sunny again.
+
+"No, no," he said; "but you two must leave matters to Mr Bayle and me.
+We are acting for the best, my child.  You cannot conceive what it would
+have been to let you go out as your mother proposed.  It was madness!"
+
+"It is for Julie's sake," Mrs Hallam said to herself, when she
+consented to various little arrangements, though she shivered at the
+thought of being brought face to face with her fellow-passengers.
+
+"Indeed, we are acting with all the foresight we can bring to bear,"
+Bayle said, in answer to another remonstrance made in the hurry and
+bustle of preparation.
+
+"Yes," she replied; "but you are doing too much.  You make me tremble
+for the consequence."
+
+Bayle smiled, and bade her take comfort.  He was present with her almost
+daily, to report little matters that he had arranged for her as to money
+and baggage.  Since he had accompanied her and Julia back to town he had
+been indefatigable, working with the most cheery good-humour, and
+smiling as he reported the success of the furniture sale; how capitally
+he had managed about the little investments of the wreck of Mrs
+Hallam's money; and how he had obtained letters of credit for her at the
+Colonial Bank.
+
+Julia watched Bayle's countenance day by day with a curious, wistful
+look, that would at times be pitiful, at other times full of resentment;
+and one day she turned to the doctor--the old gentleman and Mrs
+Luttrell having insisted upon coming to town, and following their child
+to Portsmouth, where they were to embark.
+
+"I believe, grandpa," she said half angrily, "that Mr Bayle is tired of
+us, and that he is glad to get us off his hands."
+
+"Nothing would ever tire Mr Bayle, my dear," said Mrs Luttrell
+reprovingly.
+
+Julia turned to her quickly and put her arms round the old lady's neck,
+the tears in her eyes brimming over.
+
+"No; it was very unkind and ungenerous of me," she said.  "He has always
+been so good."
+
+In the midst of what was almost a wild excitement of preparation,
+mingled with fits of despondency, Millicent Hallam noticed this too, and
+found time to feel hurt.
+
+"He is such an old friend," she said to herself.  "He has been like a
+brother; and it seems hard that he should appear to be less moved at our
+approaching farewell than Mr Thickens and his wife."
+
+For, instigated by the latter, Thickens had come up and followed them to
+Portsmouth.
+
+"It would have about killed her, Mrs Hallam," he said in confidence, as
+he sat chatting with her aside in the hotel room on the eve of their
+sailing.  "But now a bit of business.  I've been trying ever since I
+came to get a few words with you alone, only Sir Gordon and Mr Bayle
+were always in the way."
+
+"Business, Mr Thickens?"
+
+"Yes, look here!  I'm an actuary, you see, and money adviser, and that
+sort of thing.  Now you are going out there on a long voyage, and you
+ought to be prepared for any little emergencies that may occur in a land
+that I find is not so barbarous as I thought, for I see they have a
+regular banking establishment there, and business regularly carried on
+in paper and bullion."
+
+Mrs Hallam looked at him wonderingly.
+
+"Ah, I see you don't understand me, so to be short," he continued, "fact
+is I talked it over with, madam, and we settled it between us."
+
+"Settled what?" said Mrs Hallam, wonderingly.
+
+"Well, the fact is, we've two hundred pounds fallen in.  Been out on a
+good mortgage at five per cent, and just now I can't place it anywhere
+at more than four, and that won't do, you know, will it?"
+
+"Of course it would not be so advantageous."
+
+"No, to be sure not, so we thought we'd ask you to take it at five.
+Money's valuable out there.  You could easily send us the dividend once
+a-year--ten pounds, you know, by credit note, and it would be useful to
+you, and doing your old friends a good turn.  I hate to see money lying
+idle."
+
+Mrs Hallam glanced across the room to see that little Mrs Thickens was
+watching them anxiously, and she felt the tears rise in her eyes as she
+darted a grateful look back, before turning to dry, drab-looking
+Thickens, who now and then put his hand up to his ear, as if expecting
+to find a pen there.
+
+"It is very good and very generous of you," she said huskily, "and I can
+never be grateful enough for all this kindness.  Believe me, I shall
+never forget it."
+
+"That's right.  I shall have it all arranged, so that you can draw at
+the Colonial Bank."
+
+"No, no," cried Mrs Hallam with energy, "it is impossible.  Besides, I
+have a sufficiency for our wants, ample for the present--the remains of
+my little property.  Mr Bayle has managed it so well for me; my
+furniture brought in a nice little sum, and--"
+
+"Your what?" said Thickens in a puzzled tone.
+
+"My property.  You remember what I had when--"
+
+"When you were married?  Why, my dear madam, you don't think any of that
+was left?"
+
+"Mr Thickens!"
+
+"Ah, I see," he cried with a good-humoured smile, for delicacy was not
+the forte of the bank clerk of the little country town.  "Mr Bayle
+patched up that story.  Why, my dear madam, when the crash came you
+hadn't a halfpenny.  Here, quick, my dear!  Mrs Hallam has turned
+faint!"
+
+"No, it is nothing," she cried hastily.  "I am better now, Mr Thickens.
+Go back to our friends, Julie--to grandma.  It is past."
+
+"I--I'm afraid I've spoken too plainly," said Thickens apologetically,
+as soon as they were alone once more.  "I wish I'd held my tongue."
+
+"I am very glad that you spoke, Mr Thickens," said Mrs Hallam in a low
+voice.  "It was better that I should know."
+
+"Then you will let me lend you that money?" eagerly.
+
+"No.  It is impossible.  I am deeper in obligations than I thought.
+Pray spare me by not saying more."
+
+"I want to do everything you wish," said Thickens uneasily.
+
+"Then say no word about what you have told me to any one."
+
+"Pooh!  Mrs Hallam, as if I should.  Money matters are always sacred
+with me.  That comes of Mr Bayle banking in town.  If he had trusted me
+with his money matters, I should never have spoken like this."
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+MILLICENT HALLAM LEARNS A LITTLE MORE OF THE TRUTH.
+
+It was a painful evening that last.  Every one was assuming to be
+light-hearted, and talking of the voyage as being pleasant, and hinting
+delicately at the possibility of seeing mother and daughter soon again,
+but all the while feeling that the farewells must in all probability be
+final.
+
+Mr and Mrs Thickens retired early, for the latter whispered to her
+husband that she could bear it no longer.
+
+"I feel, dear, as if it were a funeral, and we were being kept all this
+while standing by the open grave!"
+
+"Hush!" whispered back Thickens; "it's like prophesying evil."  And they
+hurriedly took leave.
+
+Then Sir Gordon rose, saying that it was very late, and he, too, went,
+leaving mother and daughter exchanging glances, for the old man seemed
+cool and unruffled in an extraordinary degree.
+
+Bayle remained a little longer, talking to Doctor and Mrs Luttrell,
+whose favourite attitudes all the evening had been seated on either side
+of Julia, each holding a hand.
+
+"Good-night," said Bayle at last, rising and shaking hands with Julia in
+a cheery, pleasant manner.  "No sitting up.  Take my advice and have a
+good rest, so as to be prepared for the sea demon.  Eleven punctually,
+you know, to-morrow.  Everything ready?"
+
+"Yes, everything is ready," replied Julia, looking at him with her eyes
+flashing and a feeling of anger at his cavalier manner forcing its way
+to the surface.  It seemed so Cruel.  Just at a time like that, when a
+few tender words of sympathy would have been like balm to the wounded
+spirit, he was as cool and indifferent as could be.  She was right, she
+told herself.  He really was tired of them.
+
+Bayle evidently read her ingenuous young countenance and smiled, with
+the result that she darted an indignant glance at him, and then could
+not keep back her tears.
+
+"Oh, no, no, no," he said, taking her hand and holding it, speaking the
+while as if she were a child.  "Tears, tears?  Oh, nonsense!  Why, these
+are not the days of Christopher Columbus.  You are not going to sail
+away upon an unknown sea.  It is a mere yachting trip, and every mile of
+the way is known.  Come, come: cheer up.  That's nautical, you know,
+Julie.  Good-night, my dear! good-night."
+
+He shook hands far more warmly and affectionately with the Doctor and
+Mrs Luttrell, hesitating for a moment or two, and even taking poor
+weeping Mrs Luttrell in his arms, and kissing her tenderly again and
+again.
+
+"Good-night, good-night, my dear old friend," he said.  "You have been
+almost more than a mother to me.  Good-night, good-night."
+
+The old lady sobbed upon his shoulder for some time, the doctor holding
+Bayle's other hand, while Julia crossed to her mother, who was standing
+cold and statuesque near the door, and hid her face.
+
+"Good-night and good-bye, my dear boy," said Mrs Luttrell, as she
+raised her head; and looked up in his face.  "And you always have seemed
+as if you were our son."
+
+Bayle's lip quivered, and his face was for a moment convulsed, but he
+was calm again in a moment.
+
+"To be sure, doctor," he said.  "I shall come down and see you again--
+some day.  I want some gardening for a change.  Good-night, good--"
+
+His last word was inaudible, as he hurried towards the door, where Mrs
+Hallam was awaiting him.
+
+"Go back to your grandmother, Julie," she said, in a low, stern voice.
+"Christie Bayle, I wish to speak to you."
+
+"To me?  To-night?" he said hastily.  "No: to-morrow.  I am not myself
+now, and you need rest."
+
+"No," she said, in the same deep voice; "to-night," and she led the way
+into an inner room.
+
+Julia made as if to follow, but stopped short, and stood watching till
+her mother and their old friend disappeared.
+
+The room was lit only by the light that streamed in from the street lamp
+and a shop near the hotel, so that the faces of Millicent Hallam and
+Bayle were half in shadow as they stood opposite to each other.
+
+Bayle was silent, for he had seen that Mrs Hallam was deeply moved.  He
+had studied her face too many years not to be able to read its various
+changes; and now, on the eve of her departure, he knew that in spite of
+the apparent calmness of the surface a terrible storm of grief must be
+raging beneath, and feeling that perhaps she wished to say a few words
+of thanks to him, and while asking some attention towards the old
+people, she was about to take this opportunity to bid him farewell, he
+stood there in silence waiting for her to speak.
+
+Twice over she essayed, but the words would not come.  It was as if
+misery, indignation, and humiliation were contending in her breast, and
+each mood was uppermost when she opened her lips.  How could she have
+been so unworldly--so blind all these years, as not to have seen that
+Christie Bayle had been impoverishing himself that she and her child
+might live?
+
+As she thought this, she was moved to humility, and admiration of the
+gentleman who had hidden all this from them, always behaving with the
+greatest delicacy, and carefully hiding the part he had taken in her
+life.
+
+"And I thought myself so experienced--so well taught by adversity," she
+said to herself.
+
+"Did you wish to ask me something, Mrs Hallam!" said Bayle, at last.
+"Is it some commission you wish me to undertake?"
+
+"Stop a moment," she said hoarsely.  Then, as if by a tremendous effort
+over herself, she tried to steady her voice, and to speak indignantly,
+as she exclaimed:
+
+"Christie Bayle, why have you humiliated me like this?"
+
+He started, for he had not the remotest idea that she had learnt his
+secret.
+
+"Humiliated you?" he said.  "Oh, no, I could not have done that."
+
+"I have trusted you so well--looked upon you as a brother, and now at
+the eleventh hour of my home life, I find that even you have not
+deserved my trust."
+
+"Indeed!" he said, smiling.  "What have I done?"
+
+"What have you done?" she cried indignantly, her emotion begetting a
+kind of unreason, and making her bitter in her words.  "What have I done
+in my misery and misfortune that you should take advantage of my
+position?  That man to-night has told me all."
+
+"I hardly understand you," he said gravely.
+
+"Not understand?  He has told me that when that terrible trouble came
+upon me, it did not come singly, and that I was left penniless to battle
+with the world.  Is this true?"
+
+Bayle refrained for a few moments before answering.  "Is this wise?" he
+said at last.  "For your own sake--for the sake of Julie, you have need
+of all your fortitude to bear up against a painful series of farewells.
+Why trouble about this trifle now?"
+
+"Trifle!" she cried angrily.  "Stop!  Let me think."  She stood with her
+hands pressed to her forehead, as if struggling to drag something from
+the past--from out of the mist and turmoil of those terrible days and
+nights, when her brain seemed to have been on fire, and she lay almost
+at the point of death.
+
+"Yes," she cried, as if a flash had suddenly illumined her brain, "I see
+now.  I know.  Tell me: is what that man said true?"
+
+He was slow to answer, but at last the words came, uttered sadly, and in
+a low voice:
+
+"If he told you that at that terrible time you were left in distress, it
+is true."
+
+"I knew it," she said, passionately.  "Now tell me this--I will know.
+When my poor husband lay there helpless--in prison--yes, it all comes
+back clearly now--my illness seems to have covered it as with a mist,
+but I remember that there was powerful counsel engaged for his defence,
+and great efforts were made to save him.  Who did this?  I have kept it
+hidden away, not daring to drag these matters out into the light of the
+present, but I must know now.  Who did this?"
+
+He did not answer.
+
+"Your silence convicts you," she cried, angrily.  "It was you."
+
+"Yes," he said, quietly, "it was I."
+
+"Then we were left penniless, and it is to you we owe everything--for
+all these years?"
+
+Again he was silent.
+
+"Answer me," she cried imperiously.
+
+"Did I not acknowledge it before," he said calmly.  "Mrs Hallam, have I
+committed so grave a social crime, that you speak to me like this?"
+
+"It was cruel--to me--to my child," she cried, indignantly.  "You have
+kept us in a false position all these years.  Man, can you not
+understand the degradation and shame I felt when I was enlightened here
+only an hour ago?"
+
+He stood there silent again for a few moments, before speaking; and then
+took her hand.
+
+"If I have done wrong," he said, "forgive me.  When that blow fell, and
+in your position, all the past seemed to come back--that day when in my
+boyish vanity I--"
+
+"Oh! hush!" she cried.
+
+"Nay, let me speak," he said calmly.  "I recalled that day when you bade
+me be friend and brother to you, and life seemed to be one blank
+despair.  I remembered how I prayed for strength, and how that strength
+came, how I vowed that I would be friend and brother to you and yours;
+and when the time of tribulation came was my act so unbrotherly in your
+distress?"
+
+She was silent.
+
+"Millicent Hallam, do you think that I have not loved your child as
+tenderly as if she had been my own?  Fate gave me money.  Well, men, as
+a rule, spend their money in a way that affords them the most pleasure.
+I am only a weak man, and I have done the same."
+
+"You have kept yourself poor that we might live in idleness."
+
+"You are wrong," he said, with a quiet laugh.  "I was never richer than
+during these peaceful years--that have now come to an end," he added
+sorrowfully; "and you would make me poor once more.  There," he
+continued, speaking quickly, "I confess all.  Forgive me.  I could not
+see you in want."
+
+"I should not have been in want," she said proudly.  "If I had known
+that it was necessary I should work, the toil would have come easily to
+my hands.  I should have toiled on for my child's sake, and waited
+patiently until my husband bade me come."
+
+"But you forgive me?" he said, in his old tone.
+
+For answer she sank upon the floor at his feet, covering her face with
+her hands; and he heard her sobbing.
+
+"Good-night," he said at last.  "I will send Julie."
+
+He bent down and laid his fingers softly upon her head for a moment, and
+was turning to go, but she caught at his hand and held it.
+
+"A moment," she cried; "best and truest friend.  Forgive me, and mine--
+when we are divided, as we shall be--for life, try--pray for me--pray
+for him--and believe in him--as you do in me--my husband, Christie
+Bayle--my poor martyred husband."
+
+"And I am forgiven?" he said.
+
+"Forgiven!"
+
+She said no more, and he passed quickly into the room where Julia was
+anxiously awaiting his return.
+
+"Doctor--Mrs Luttrell," he said, "you must try and calm her, or she
+will not be able to undertake this journey.  Julie, my child, try what
+you can do.  Good-night.  Good-night."
+
+As the door closed after him, Mrs Hallam walked back into the room
+looking calm and stern; but her face softened as Julia clung to her and
+then seated herself at her mother's feet, the next hours passing so
+peacefully that it was impossible to believe that the time for parting
+was so near.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+OVER THE SEA.
+
+"Is--is it true, mother?" said Julia, as the town with its docks and
+shipping seemed to be growing less and less, while the Isle of Wight,
+and the land on their right looked dim and clouded over.  The sun still
+shone, but it seemed to be watery and cold; there was a chill upon the
+sea, and though there was a great deal of hurrying to and fro among the
+sailors and soldiers as the cumbered decks were being cleared, it was to
+Mrs Hallam and her child as if a dead silence had fallen, and the
+noises of the ship and creaking of block and spar were heard from a
+distance.
+
+Thisbe was seated near where they two stood by the bulwark, gazing
+towards the shore.  Thisbe felt no desire to watch the retiring land,
+for her heart was very low, and she found rest and solace in shedding
+one salt tear now and then, and wiping it away with her glove.
+
+Unfortunately, Thisbe's glove was black, and the dye in her glove not
+being fast, the effect was strange.
+
+"I'm a fool to cry," she said to herself; "but he might have had as good
+manners as his master, and said `good-bye.'"
+
+Thisbe must have been deeply moved, or she would not have sat there upon
+a little box that she would not let out of her hands, probably on
+account of its insecurity, for it was tied up with two different kinds
+of string.
+
+"It seems to me," continued Julia, "as if it were all some terrible
+dream."
+
+"But one that is to have a happy waking, Julie."
+
+"Poor grandma! she looked as if it would kill her," said Julia, sobbing
+gently.
+
+"Hush!" cried Mrs Hallam, grasping her child's arm as a spasm of pain
+ran through her, and her face grew deadly pale.  "We must think of one
+who, in pain and suffering, was dragged from his wife and child--forced
+to suffer the most terrible degradations.  He is waiting for us, Julie--
+waiting as he has waited all these years.  We must turn our backs upon
+these troubles, and think only of him.  Be firm, my child, be firm."
+There was almost a savage emphasis in Mrs Hallam's words as she spoke.
+
+"I'll try, dear; but, grandpa!" sobbed Julie, as she laid her arm upon
+the bulwark and her face upon it, that she might weep unseen; "shall we
+never see him and the pleasant old garden again?"
+
+"Julie, this is childish," whispered Mrs Hallam.  "Remember, you are a
+woman now."
+
+"I do," cried the girl quickly; "but a woman must feel grief at parting
+from those she loves."
+
+"Yes, but it must not overbear all, my child.  Come, we must not give
+way now.  Let us go below to our cabin."
+
+"No," said Julia; "I must watch the shore till it is dark.  Not yet, not
+yet.  Mother, I thought Sir Gordon liked us--was a very, very great
+friend?"
+
+"He is; he always has been."
+
+"But he parted from us as if it was only for a day or two.  He did not
+seem troubled in the least."
+
+Mrs Hallam was silent.
+
+"And Mr Bayle, mother--he quite checked me.  I was so grieved, and felt
+in such despair at parting from him till he stood holding my hands.  I
+wanted to throw my arms round his neck, and let him hold me to his
+breast, as he used years ago; but when I looked up in his face, he
+seemed so calm and cheerful, and he just smiled down at me, and it made
+me angry.  Mamma, dear, men have no feeling at all."
+
+"I think Mr Bayle feels our going deeply," replied Mrs Hallam,
+quietly.
+
+"He did not seem to," said Julia pettishly.
+
+"A man cannot show his sorrow as a woman may, my child," said Mrs
+Hallam, with a sigh.
+
+She gazed back at the land that seemed to be growing more dim, minute by
+minute, as the great ship careened over to the press of sail, and sped
+on down Channel.
+
+A wistful look came into the mother's eyes, as she thought of her
+child's words.  In spite of resolutions and promises, the parting from
+the old people had been most painful; but, throughout all, there had
+seemed to her to be a curious indifference to her going, on the part of
+Bayle.  He had been incessant in his attentions; a hundred little acts
+had been performed that were likely to make their stay on shipboard more
+pleasant; but there was a something wanting--a something she had felt
+deeply, and the pain became the more acute since she found that her
+feelings were shared.
+
+They stood gazing at the grey and distant land, when the evening was
+falling.  They were faint for want of food; but they knew it not, for
+the faintness was mingled with the sickness of the heart, and in spite
+of the glowing happy future Mrs Hallam tried to paint, a strange sense
+of desolation and despair seemed to overmaster her, and all her
+fortitude was needed to save her from bursting into a violent fit of
+sobbing.
+
+On and on with the water rushing beneath them, as they leaned upon the
+bulwarks, gazing still at the fast receding shore.  There had been a
+great deal of noisy bustle going on around; but so wrapt were they in
+their own feelings that sailors and passengers, officers and men, passed
+and repassed unheeded.  They were in a little world of their own, blind
+to all beside, so that it was with quite a start that Mrs Hallam heard,
+for the second time, a voice say:
+
+"Surely, ladies, you must be cold.  Will you allow me to fetch shawls
+from the cabin?"
+
+The first time these words were spoken, neither Mrs Hallam nor Julia
+moved; but, on their being repeated, they turned quickly round, to find
+that Thisbe had gone below, and that where she had been seated upon her
+box an officer in undress uniform was standing, cap in hand.
+
+"I thank you, no," said Mrs Hallam coldly, as she returned the bow.
+"Julie, it is time we went below."
+
+The officer drew back as mother and daughter swept slowly by towards the
+cabin stairs, and remained motionless even after they had disappeared.
+
+He was roused from his waking dream by a hearty clap on the shoulders.
+
+"What's the matter, Phil?" said a bluff voice, and a heavy-featured
+officer of about forty looked at him in a half-amused manner.
+
+"Matter?  Matter?  Nothing; nothing at all."
+
+"Bah! don't tell me.  The old game, Phil.  Is she nice-looking?"
+
+"Beautiful!" cried the young officer excitedly.
+
+"Ah! that's how I used to speak of Mrs Captain Otway," said the
+heavy-looking officer cynically; "but, my dear Phil, with all due
+respect to the sharer of my joys and the sorrows of going out to this
+horrible hole, Mrs Captain Otway does not look beautiful now."
+
+"Otway, you are a brute to that woman.  She is a thoroughly true-hearted
+lady, and too good for you."
+
+"Much, Phil--much too good.  Poor woman, it was hard upon her, with all
+her love of luxury and refinement, that she should be forced by fate to
+marry the poor captain of a marching regiment."
+
+"Sent out to guard convicts in a penal settlement, eh?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure.  Oh, dear me!  I shall be heartily glad when we are
+settled down and have had a week at sea."
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  I think time passes quite quickly enough.  I say,
+Otway, do you think, if you asked her, Mrs Otway would lend a helping
+hand to those two ladies?  They seem very strange and desolate on board
+here."
+
+"My wife?  Impossible, Phil; she is in her berth already, declaring that
+she is sea-sick, when all the time it is fancy."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"How do I know?  Because she never is; it is so as to get out of the
+misery and confusion of the first day.  Look here, boy, I'm always glad
+to help you, though.  Shall I do?"
+
+"You do?  What for?"
+
+"To go down and try and set your last enslavers at their ease."
+
+"Don't be idiotic."
+
+"Nice way for a subaltern to speak to his commanding officer, sir."
+
+"I was not speaking to my commanding officer, but to my old companion,
+Jack Otway."
+
+"Oh, I see!  I say, Phil, which of the fair ones is it--Juno or Hebe?"
+
+"Don't talk nonsense."
+
+"All right.  Who are they?"
+
+"I can't find out yet.  The captain gave me their names, that's all.
+Hist! here is their maid."
+
+Just then Thisbe, who had been below, creeping off quietly to make
+things a bit comfortable, as she called it, came on deck, having missed
+Mrs Hallam and Julia, expecting to find them where she had left them,
+leaning over the bulwarks; and full of haste, as she had found that
+there was at last something like a pleasant meal spread in the principal
+cabin.
+
+"It's very muddly," she muttered to herself, "and I'd give something for
+a snug little room where I could make them a decent cup of tea.  And
+this is being at sea, is it?--sea that Tom Porter says is so lovely.
+Poor wretch!"
+
+Thisbe impatiently dashed a tear from her eyes, the reason for whose
+coming she would not own; and then she stopped short, wondering at the
+presence of a couple of officers, where she had left Mrs Hallam and
+Julia, for, from some reason best known to himself, Philip Eaton, of His
+Majesty's --th Foot, was resting his arms where Julia had rested hers,
+and Captain Otway, in command of the draft on its way out to Port
+Jackson, had involuntarily taken Mrs Hallam's place.
+
+"Looking for your ladies?" said Eaton.
+
+"Yes.  What have you done with--I mean where are they?"
+
+"One moment," said the lieutenant in a confidential manner, as he
+slipped his hand into his pocket, "just tell me--"
+
+He stopped astonished, for as she saw the motion of the young man's
+hand, and heard his insinuating words, Thisbe gave vent to a sound best
+expressed by the word "Wuff!" but which sounded exceedingly like the
+bark of some pet dog, as she whisked herself round and searched the deck
+before once more going below.
+
+"Another of them," she muttered between her teeth.  "Handsome as
+handsome, and ready to lay traps for my darling.  But I'm not going to
+have her made miserable.  I'm a woman now; I was a weak, watery, girlish
+thing then.  I'm not going to have her life made a wreck."
+
+Thisbe went below, little thinking that it would be a week before she
+again came on deck.
+
+The weather turned bad that night, and the customary miseries ensued.
+It was so bad that the captain was glad that he had to run into
+Plymouth, but no sooner was he there than the weather abated, tempting
+him forth again to encounter a terrible gale off the Lizard, and more or
+less bad weather till they were well across the Bay of Biscay, and
+running down the west coast of Spain, when the weather changed all at
+once.  The sky cleared, the sun came out warm and bright, the sea went
+down, and one by one the wretched passengers stole on deck.
+
+Among them, pale and depressed by the long confinement in the cabins,
+Mrs Hallam and Julia were ready to hurry on deck to breathe the sweet,
+pure air.
+
+"And is that distant shore Spain?" said Julia wonderingly, as she gazed
+at the faint grey line at which every eye and glass was being directed.
+
+"Yes, Julie," said Mrs Hallam more cheerfully, "sunny Spain."
+
+"And it seems just now that we were gazing at dear old England," said
+Julia, with a sigh.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Hallam, grasping her hand with feverish energy, "but
+now we are so many hundred miles nearer to him who is waiting our
+coming, Julie.  Let us count the miles as he is counting the minutes
+before he can take his darling to his heart.  Julie, my child, we must
+put the past behind us; it is the future for which we must live."
+
+"Forget the past?" said Julia mournfully.  "It was such a happy time."
+
+"For you, Julie, but for me one long agonising time of waiting."
+
+"Dearest mother," whispered Julia, pressing her hand, and speaking
+quickly, "I know--I know, and I will try so hard not to be selfish."
+
+They had turned to the bulwarks the moment they came on deck, and,
+without casting a look round, had glanced at the distant coast, and then
+mentally plunged their eyes into the cloud ahead, beyond which stood
+Robert Hallam awaiting their coming.
+
+"I had the pleasure of speaking to you before the storm, ladies," said a
+voice, and as they turned quickly, it was to find Lieutenant Eaton, cap
+in hand, smiling, and slightly flushed.
+
+Mrs Hallam bowed.
+
+"I sincerely trust that you have quite recovered," continued the young
+officer, directing an admiring gaze at Julia.
+
+"Quite, I thank you," said Mrs Hallam coldly.
+
+"Then we shall see you at the table, Mrs Hallam--and Miss Hallam?" he
+continued, with another bow.
+
+Julia returned the bow, looking flushed and rather indignant.
+
+"I hope you will excuse me," continued Eaton; "on shipboard you see we
+are like one family, all as it were in the same house."
+
+Mrs Hallam bowed again, flushing as ingenuously as her daughter, for
+these advances troubled her greatly.  She would have preferred being
+alone, and in a more humble portion of the vessel, but Sir Gordon and
+Bayle had insisted upon her occupying one of the best cabins, and it
+seemed to her that she was there under false pretences, and that it was
+only a question of days before there must come discovery which would put
+them to open shame.
+
+Driven, as it were, to bay by the young officer's words, she replied
+hastily: "You must excuse me now; I have scarcely recovered."
+
+"Pray forgive me," cried Eaton, giving Julia a look full of intelligence
+which made her shrink, "I ought to have known better.  In a short time I
+hope, Mrs Hallam, that we shall be better acquainted."
+
+He raised his cap again and drew back, while, excited and agitated
+beyond her wont, Mrs Hallam exclaimed:
+
+"It cannot be, Julie.  We must keep ourselves aloof from these people--
+from all the passengers; our course is alone--till we join him."
+
+"Yes," said Julia, in a troubled way, "we must be alone."
+
+"These people who make advances to us now," continued Mrs Hallam,
+"would master the object of our journey before we had gone far, and then
+we should be the pariahs of the ship."
+
+"Would they be so unjust, mother?"
+
+"Yes, for they do not know the truth.  If they were told all, they would
+not believe it.  My child, it was so that the world should never turn
+upon us and revile us for our misfortune that I have insisted all these
+years on living so reserved a life.  And now we must go on in the same
+retired manner.  If we are drawn into friendly relations with these
+people, our story will ooze out, and we shall have to endure the insult
+and misery of seeing them turn their backs upon us.  Better that we
+should ostracise ourselves than suffer it at other hands; the blow will
+be less keen."
+
+"I am ready to do all you wish, dear," said Julia, stealing her hand
+into her mother's.
+
+"My beloved," whispered back Mrs Hallam, "it is our fate.  We must bear
+all this, but our reward will be the more joyful, Julie: it is for your
+father's sake.  Think of it, my child; there is no holier name under
+heaven to a child than that of father."
+
+There was a pause, and then Julia, in a low, sweet voice, whispered:
+"Mother."
+
+The two women stood there alone, seeming to gaze across the bright sea
+at the distant land.  Passengers and sailors passed them, and the
+officers of the ship hesitated as they drew near about speaking, ending
+by respecting the reverie in which they seemed to be wrapt, and passing
+on.  But Millicent and Julia Hallam saw neither sea, shore, nor the
+distant land: before each the face of Robert Hallam, as they had known
+it last, rose out of, as it were, a mist.  And as they gazed into the
+future, the countenance of Julia seemed full of timid wonder, half
+shrinking, while that of Millicent grew more and more calm, as her eyes
+filled with a sweet subdued light, full of yearning to meet once more
+him who was waiting all those thousand miles away.
+
+So intent were they upon their thoughts of the coming encounter, that
+neither of them noticed the quiet step that approached, and then stopped
+close at hand.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Hallam aloud, "we must accept our position, my child;
+better that we should be alone."
+
+"Not quite!"
+
+Julia started round with a cry of joy, and placed her hands in those of
+the speaker.
+
+"Mr Bayle?" she cried excitedly; "what a surprise!"
+
+"You here?" cried Mrs Hallam hoarsely.
+
+"Yes," was the reply, given in the calmest, most matter-of-fact,
+half-laughing way, and as if it were merely a question of crossing a
+county at home.  "Why, you two poor unprotected women, you did not think
+I meant to let you take this long voyage alone!"
+
+Mrs Hallam drew a long breath and turned pale.  She essayed to speak,
+but no words would come, and at last with a spasm seeming to contract
+her brow, she turned to gaze appealingly at her child.
+
+"But you are going back?" said Julia, and she, too, seemed deeply moved.
+
+He shook his head, and smiled.
+
+"How good--how noble!" she began.
+
+"Ah! tut! tut! little pupil; what nonsense!" cried Bayle merrily.  "Why,
+here is Sir Gordon, who has done precisely the same thing."  And the old
+baronet came slowly up, raising his straw hat just as Thisbe came
+hurriedly on deck to announce the discovery she had made, and found that
+she was too late.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+NEW FACES--NEW FRIENDS.
+
+"You may call it what you like, Mr Tom Porter, but I call it deceit."
+
+"No," said Tom, giving his rough head a roll, as he stood with his legs
+very far apart, looking quite the sailor now, in place of the quiet
+body-servant of the St James's pantry.  "No, my lass, not deceit,
+reg'lar sea arrangement: sailing under sealed orders.  Quite a reg'lar
+thing."
+
+"It's the last thing I should have expected of Sir Gordon; and as to Mr
+Bayle, how he could keep it quiet as he did, and then all at once make
+his appearance off the coast of Spain--"
+
+"After coming quietly on board at Plymouth, while you people were all
+shut up below out of the rough weather.  Pooh! my lass, it was all meant
+well, so don't show so much surf."
+
+"Reason?" said Bayle smiling, as he sat aft with Mrs Hallam and Julia,
+Sir Gordon having gone to his cabin.  "I thought if I proposed coming it
+would agitate and trouble you both, and as to what you have said, surely
+I am a free agent, and if it gives me pleasure to watch over you both,
+and to render you up safely at our journey's end, you cannot wish to
+deny me that."
+
+The subject dropped, and as the days glided on in the pleasant monotony
+of a life at sea, when the sky smiles and the wind is fair, the position
+seemed to be accepted by Mrs Hallam as inevitable.  She tried hard to
+shut herself away with Julia, but soon found that she must yield to
+circumstances.  She appealed to Sir Gordon and to Christie Bayle, but
+each smiled as he gave her a few encouraging words.
+
+"You trouble yourself about an imaginary care," the latter said.  "Bear
+in mind that you are on your way to a settlement where sins against the
+Government are often condoned, and you may rest assured that no one on
+board this vessel would be so cruel as to visit your unhappy condition
+upon your innocent heads."
+
+"But I would far rather be content with Julie's company, and keep to our
+cabin."
+
+"It is impossible," said Bayle.  "It is like drawing attention to
+yourself.  Be advised by me: lead the quiet regular cabin life, and all
+will be well."
+
+Mrs Hallam shook her head.
+
+"No," she said.  "I am afraid.  I am more troubled than I can say."
+
+She gazed up in Bayle's eyes, and a questioning look passed between
+them.  Each silently asked the other the same question: "Have you
+noticed that?"
+
+But the time was not ripe for the question to be put in its entirety,
+and neither spoke.
+
+The weather continued glorious from the time of the fresh grey dawn,
+when the tip of the sun gradually rose above the sea, on through the
+glowing heat of noon, when the pitch oozed from the seams, and outside
+the awnings the handrails could not be touched by the bare hand.  Then
+on and on till the passengers assembled in groups to see sky and water
+dyed with the refulgent hues that dazzled while they filled with awe.
+
+It was at these times that Mrs Hallam and Julia stole away from the
+other groups, to be followed at a distance by Bayle, who stood and
+watched them as they gazed at the setting sun.  For it seemed to mother
+and daughter like a sign, a foretaste of the glory of the land to which
+they were going, and in the solemnity and silence of the mighty deep,
+evening by evening they stood and watched, their privacy respected by
+all on board, till lamps began to swing here and there beneath the
+awning, and generally Lieutenant Eaton came to ask Mrs Hallam to play
+or Julia to sing.
+
+"Bayle," Sir Gordon would say, with the repetition of an elderly and
+querulous man, "you always seem to me like a watch-dog on the look-out
+for intruders."
+
+"I am," said Bayle laconically.
+
+"Then why, sir, confound you! when the intruders do come, don't you
+seize 'em, and shake 'em, and throw 'em overboard?"
+
+"I'm afraid I should do something of the kind," replied Bayle, "only I
+must have cause."
+
+"Cause?  Well, haven't you cause enough, man?"
+
+"Surely no.  Everybody on board, from the captain to the humblest
+seaman, has a respectful smile for them as he raises his cap."
+
+"Of course he has," cried Sir Gordon testily.
+
+"Then why should the watch-dog interfere?"
+
+"Why?  Isn't that soldier fellow always making advances, and carrying
+them off to the piano of an evening?"
+
+"Yes; and it seems, now the first trouble has worn off, to give them
+both pleasure.  Surely they have had their share of pain!"
+
+"Yes, yes," cried Sir Gordon; "but I don't like it; I don't like it,
+Bayle."
+
+"I have felt the same, but we must not be selfish.  Besides, we agreed
+that they ought to associate with the passengers during the voyage."
+
+Sir Gordon's face grew full of puckers, as he drew out and lit a
+cheroot, which he smoked in silence, while Bayle went to the side and
+gazed at the black water, spangled with the reflected stars that burned
+above in the vast bejewelled arch of heaven.
+
+"I don't like it," muttered Sir Gordon to himself, "and I don't
+understand Bayle.  No," he continued after a pause, "I cannot ask him
+that.  Time settles all these matters, and it will settle this."
+
+From where he sat he could, by turning his head, gaze beneath the awning
+looped up like some great marquee.  Here, by the light of the shaded
+lamps, the passengers and officers gathered night after night as they
+sailed on through the tropics.  At times there would be a dance, more
+often the little tables would be occupied by players at some game, while
+first one lady and then another would take her place at the piano.
+
+There were other eyes beside Sir Gordon's watching beneath the awning,
+and a signal would be given by a low whistle whenever Julia was seen to
+approach the instrument.  Then a knot of the soldiers and sailors would
+collect to listen to her clear thrilling voice as she sang some sweet
+old-time ballad.  It was always Philip Eaton who pressed her to sing,
+led her to the piano, and stood over her, holding a lamp or turning over
+the leaves.  He it was, too, who was the first to applaud warmly; and
+often and often from where he leaned over the bulwarks listening, too,
+Bayle could see the ingenuous girlish face look up with a smile at the
+handsome young officer, who would stay by her side afterwards perhaps
+the greater part of the evening, or he would lead her to where Captain
+Otway was lolling back, talking to Mrs Captain Otway, a handsome,
+fashionable-looking woman, who seemed to win her way day by day more and
+more to the friendship of Millicent Hallam.
+
+At such times Sir Gordon would sit alone and fume, while Bayle watched
+the black, starlit water, closing his eyes when Julia sang or Mrs
+Hallam played some old piece, that recalled the doctor's cottage at
+King's Castor.
+
+Afterwards he would turn his head and look beneath the awning sadly--the
+warm, soft glow of the swinging lamp lighting up face after face, which
+then seemed to fade away into the shadow.
+
+He was strangely affected at such times.  Now it was the present, and
+they were at sea; anon it seemed that he was leaning over the rustic
+seat in the doctor's garden, and that was not the awning and the
+quarterdeck, but the little drawing-room with the open windows.  Time
+had not glided on; and in a curious, dreamy fashion, that did not seem
+to be Julia, the child he had taught, but Millicent; and that was not
+Lieutenant Eaton leaning over her, but Robert Hallam.
+
+Then one of the shadows on the awning would take a grotesque resemblance
+to little Miss Heathery, to help out the flights of fancy; and Bayle
+would listen for the tinkling notes of the piano again, and feel
+surprised not to hear a little bird-like voice piping "Gaily the
+troubadour."
+
+Next there would be a burst of merry conversation, and perhaps a laugh;
+and as Bayle turned his head again to gaze half wonderingly, the
+lamp-light would fall, perhaps, upon the faces of mother and daughter,
+the centre of the group near the piano.
+
+Christie Bayle would begin to study the stars once more, as if seeking
+to read therein his future; but in vain, for he gazed down where they
+were broken and confused in the dark waters, sparkling and gliding as
+they were repeated again below, deep down in the transparent depths,
+where phosphorescent creatures glowed here and there.
+
+"I can't make him out," Sir Gordon would often say to himself.
+
+No wonder!  Christie Bayle could not analyse his own feelings, only that
+the old sorrow that was dead and buried years upon years ago seemed to
+be reviving and growing till it was becoming an agonising pang.
+
+End of Volume Two.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+LADY EATON'S SON.
+
+It was a long voyage, for in those days the idea of shortening a trip to
+the Antipodes had not been dreamed of, and the man who had suggested
+that the time would come when powerful steamers would run through the
+Mediterranean, down a canal, along the Red Sea, across the Indian Ocean,
+touch at Singapore, and after threading their way among the tropic
+Indian Islands, pass down the eastern side of the Australian continent
+within shelter of the Great Barrier Reef, would have been called a
+madman.
+
+But long and tedious as it was made by calms, in what seemed to be a
+region of eternal summer, Christie Bayle prayed that the voyage might be
+prolonged.
+
+And then, Julia--who had been to him as his own child, whose young life
+he had seen increase and develop till the bud was promising to be a
+lovely flower--seemed so happy.  Everything was so new to the young
+girl, fresh from her life of retirement, and now thrust into a society
+where she was at once made queen.  There was a smile and a pull at the
+forelock from every sailor, while every soldier of Captain Otway's
+company was ready to salute as soon as she came on deck.
+
+The bluff old captain of the _Sea King_ took her at once under his
+protection, and settled her place at table; while his officers vied with
+each other in their attentions.  As for Philip Eaton, he was more than
+satisfied with the behaviour of Mrs Captain Otway, and he did not
+believe her when, in a free-and-easy way, she clapped him on the
+shoulder and said:
+
+"It is not on your account, Phil Eaton--handsome youth, who falleth in
+love with every pretty woman he sees--but because I like the little
+lady.  However, my boy, your flirtation is nearly over."
+
+"Nearly over, Mrs Otway!" he cried warmly.  "Flirtation?  Don't call it
+by that wretched name."
+
+"There, I told Jack so, and he laughed at me.  It is serious, then?"
+
+"Serious!  I mean to be married this time."
+
+"Pooh! nonsense, Phil.  Absurd!"
+
+"Was it absurd for you to make a runaway match with John Otway!"
+
+"No; but then we loved each other passionately."
+
+"Well, and do not we?"
+
+"Hum!  No, my dear boy.  There, Phil, you see I am like a mother to you.
+You think you love the little thing desperately."
+
+"And I do so.  It is no thinking.  I never saw a woman who moved me as
+she does with her sweet, innocent ways."
+
+"Is it so bad as that?" said Mrs Otway, smiling.
+
+"Bad! no, it's good.  I'm glad I've seen the woman at last of whom I can
+feel proud.  She is so different from any girl I ever met before."
+
+"Don't singe your wings, my handsome butterfly," said Mrs Otway,
+laughing.  "Why, my dear Phil, I don't think the girl cares for you a
+bit."
+
+"But I am sure she does."
+
+"Has she owned to it?"
+
+"No," he said proudly.  "I am in earnest now, and I reverence her so
+that I would not say a word until I have spoken to her mother and her
+friends."
+
+"Humph! yes: her friends," said Mrs Otway.  "What relatives are Sir
+Gordon Bourne and the Reverend Christie Bayle to the fair queen of my
+gallant soldier's heart?"
+
+"I don't know," he said impatiently.
+
+"Why are they all going out to Port Jackson?"
+
+"I don't know.  How should I?"
+
+"Oh! they might have told you in conversation."
+
+"I did not trouble myself about such things.  Hang it all!  Mrs Otway,
+how could I be so petty?"
+
+"Is it not natural that a man should be anxious to know who and what are
+the relatives of the lady he thinks of as his future wife?"
+
+"Oh, some sordid fellows would think of such things.  I'm not going to
+marry her relations."
+
+"In some sort a man must," said Mrs Otway coolly.  "Look here," cried
+the young officer, "why do you talk to me like this?"
+
+"Hullo! what's the matter?" cried Captain Otway, who had come up
+unobserved; "quarrelling?"
+
+"No," said Mrs Otway, "I am only giving Phil Eaton a little of the
+common-sense he seems to have been losing lately.  Why do I talk to you
+like this, my dear Phil?  I'll tell you.  Because the day before we
+sailed Lady Eaton came to me and said, `You are a woman of experience,
+Mrs Otway; keep an eye upon my boy, and don't let him get entangled in
+any way.'"
+
+"My mother said that to you?"
+
+"Indeed she did; and now that you are running your head into a very
+pretty silken skein, and tangling yourself up in the most tremendous
+manner, I think it is time for me to act."
+
+"Quite right, Phil," said the Captain.  "You wanted checking.  The young
+lady is delicious, and all that is innocent and nice; but you are not
+content with a pleasant chat."
+
+"No," said the Lieutenant firmly; "I mean to marry her."
+
+"Indeed!" said Otway dryly.  "Who and what is she?"
+
+"A lady of the greatest refinement and sweetness of character."
+
+"Granted; but who is her mother?"
+
+"Mrs Hallam, a lady whom, in spite of her sadness of disposition and
+distant ways, it is a privilege to know."
+
+"Will you go on, Bel?" said Otway.
+
+"No!  Oh, Captain, you are talking grand sense!  I'll listen."
+
+"Well, then, here is another question.  Who is Mr Hallam?"
+
+"How should I know?  Some merchant or official out at Port Jackson.
+They are going to join him.  Julie--"
+
+"Hullo!" cried Mrs Otway, "has it come to that?"
+
+"Miss Hallam," continued the young officer, flushing, "told me she had
+not seen her father for years."
+
+Captain Otway turned to his wife, and she exchanged glances with him in
+a meaning way.
+
+Eaton looked sharply from one to the other, his eyes flashing, and his
+white teeth showing as he bit his lip.
+
+"What do you two mean?" he cried angrily.
+
+"Oh, nothing!" said Otway, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"I insist upon knowing!" cried Eaton.  "You would not look like that
+without deep cause; and it is not fair to me.  Look here, I can't bear
+it!  You are thinking something respecting these people; and it is not
+like my old friends.  Hang it all, am I a boy?"
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Otway gently, "a foolish, hot-headed, impetuous boy.
+Now, my dear Phil, be reasonable.  The young lady is sweet and gentle,
+and sings charmingly.  She is a delicious little companion for the
+voyage, and at your wish Jack and I have been very friendly, not feeling
+ourselves called upon during a Voyage like this to inquire into people's
+antecedents so long as they were pleasant."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Hear me out."
+
+"Yes, hear her out, Phil; and don't be a fool!" said Captain Otway.
+
+"Mrs Hallam and Miss Hallam are both very nice, and we liked them, and
+I should like them to the end of the voyage if you were not beginning to
+make yourself very stupid."
+
+"Stupid!  Oh, shame upon you, Mrs Otway!"
+
+"You say so now, my dear boy; but what would you say if we, your old
+friends, let you run blindly into an entanglement with a young lady
+whose antecedents would horrify Lady Eaton, your mother?"
+
+"I say shame again, Mrs Otway!" cried Eaton.  "Why, everything
+contradicts your ideas.  Would Mrs and Miss Hallam have for friends and
+companions Sir Gordon Bourne and a clergyman?  I had heard of Sir Gordon
+as an eccentric yachting baronet years ago."
+
+"So had I," said Captain Otway; "but they have only become acquainted
+since they were on board ship.  Sir Gordon and the parson came on board
+at Plymouth."
+
+"Now I am going to show you how unjust you both are!" cried Eaton
+triumphantly.  "Julie--I mean Miss Hallam--told me herself that she knew
+Sir Gordon Bourne when she was a little girl, and that Mr Bayle had
+acted as her private tutor ever since she could remember."
+
+"And what did she say Mr Hallam was?"  "She did not mention his name,
+and I did not ask her.  Hang it, madam, what do you think he is?"
+
+"I am not going to say, my dear Philip, because I should be sorry to
+misjudge any one; but please remember why we are going out to Port
+Jackson."
+
+"Going out?  Why, to join the regiment--from the depot."
+
+"And when we join our regiment our duty is to--"
+
+"Guard the convicts!  Good heavens!"
+
+The young man sprang from the chair in which he had been lounging, and
+turned white as paint, then he flushed with anger, turned pale again,
+and glared about the vessel.
+
+Just then Mrs Hallam came out of the cabin with Julia and mounted to
+the after deck, going slowly to the vessel's side, as was her custom, to
+gaze away east and south, talking softly to her child the while.
+
+"Oh, it is impossible!" said Eaton at last.  "How dare you make such a
+charge!"
+
+"My wife makes no charge, Phil," said Captain Otway firmly.  "She only
+tells you what we think.  Perhaps we are wrong."
+
+"And now that you suspect this," said Eaton sarcastically, "are you both
+going to hold aloof from these ladies?"
+
+"Certainly not!" said Mrs Otway warmly.  "I have always found them most
+pleasant companions during our voyage, and I am the last woman to visit
+the sins of one person on the rest of his family."
+
+"And yet you abuse me for doing as you do!" cried Eaton impetuously.
+
+"There are different depths of shading in a picture, my dear Phil," said
+Mrs Otway, laying her hand upon the young man's arm.  "Be friendly to
+these people, as Jack there and I are about to be, to the end, but don't
+go and commit yourself to an engagement with a convict's daughter."
+
+"Oh, this is too much!" cried Eaton fiercely.
+
+"No, it is not, Phil," said the Captain quietly.  "I'm afraid my wife is
+right."
+
+As he was speaking, Mrs Otway, who had left them, crossed the deck, and
+stood talking to Mrs Hallam and Julia, who soon went away, and Eaton
+saw her walk to where Sir Gordon was smoking the cigar just brought to
+him, and then leave him to go timidly up to where Christie Bayle was
+leaning over the bulwarks, book in hand, and seeming to read.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+SIR GORDON GETS OUT OF TEMPER.
+
+"Don't--pray don't look so agitated, dear, mother," whispered Julia, as
+they left the cabin one morning, after an announcement by the captain
+that before many hours had passed, a new phase in the long voyage would
+take place, for they would see land.
+
+The news spread like lightning among the passengers, and was received
+with eager delight by those who had been cooped up gazing at sea and sky
+for months.
+
+"I will try and be calm," said Mrs Hallam; "but it seems at times more
+than I can bear.  Think, Julie; only a few more hours and we shall see
+him again."
+
+Julia's fair young face contracted, and there was a strange fluttering
+about her heart.  Mingled feelings troubled her.  She was angry with
+herself that she did not share her mother's joy; and, strive how she
+would, _she_ could not help feeling regret that the voyage was so near
+its end, and that they were to make a fresh plunge in life.
+
+She had trembled and shrunk from the journey when it was first decided
+upon.  There was so much of the unknown to encounter, and she had been
+so happy and contented in the simple home, that, unlike most young
+people of her age, novelty possessed for her few charms.  But the voyage
+had proved, after the first few dreary days, one long succession of
+pleasant hours.  Every one had been so kind--Mrs Otway almost loving,
+Captain Otway frank and manly, and--she coloured slightly as she thought
+of it all--Lieutenant Eaton so gentle and attentive to her every wish.
+
+Yes, for months he had been ready to hurry to her side, to wait upon
+her, to read aloud, turn over her music, and join in the duets with an
+agreeable, manly voice.  Yes, it had all been very, very pleasant; the
+only dark spots in the sunshine, the only clouds being that Sir Gordon
+had grown more testy and ready to say harsh things, and Mr Bayle had
+become strangely cold and distant--so changed.  He who had been always
+so warm and frank looked at her gravely; the old playful manner had
+completely gone, and the change troubled her young breast sorely.
+
+That morning, when Mrs Hallam took her old place by the bulwarks to
+gaze away into the distance, out of which the land she sought was to
+rise, Julia came to a determination, and, waiting her opportunity, she
+watched till Bayle had taken his place where he sat and read, and Sir
+Gordon was in his usual seat.
+
+For, on ship-board, the nature of the vessel's management seems to
+communicate itself to the passengers.  As they have special berths, so
+do they adopt special seats at the cabin table, and, when on deck, go by
+custom to regular places after their morning walk beneath the
+breeze-filled sails.
+
+Sir Gordon was in his seat, and Tom Porter on his way with a cigar and
+light, when Julia intercepted him, took them from him, and walked up to
+Sir Gordon.
+
+"Hullo!" he said shortly.  "You?"
+
+"Yes!  I've brought you your cigar and light."
+
+She held them out, and the old man took them, and lit the cheroot with
+all the careful dallying of an old smoker.
+
+"Thankye," he said shortly; but Julia did not leave him, only stood
+looking down at the wrinkles of age and annoyance in the well-bred face.
+
+"Well!" he said, "what are you waiting for, my child?"  His voice was a
+little softer as the wreaths of smoke rose in the soft southern air.
+
+"I want to talk to you," she said, looking at him wistfully.
+
+"Sit down, then.  Ah, there's no chair, and--where is our gay young
+officer to fetch one?"
+
+Julia did not answer, but gazed up in his face as she seated herself
+upon the deck by his low lounge chair.
+
+"Why do you speak to me so unkindly?" she said, with a naive innocency
+of manner that made the old man wince and cease smoking.
+
+"Unkindly?" he said at last.
+
+"Yes," said Julia.  "You have been so different.  You are not speaking
+to me now as you used."
+
+The old man frowned, looked from the upturned face at his side to where
+Mrs Hallam was gazing out to sea, and back again.
+
+"Because I'm growing old and am chilly, and pettish, and jealous, my
+dear," he said at last warmly.  "Julia!" he cried searchingly, "tell me;
+do you love this Lieutenant Eaton?"
+
+The girl's face grew crimson, and her eyes flashed a look of resentment
+as she rose quickly to her feet.
+
+"No, no! don't go, my dear," he cried; but it was too late even if the
+words could have stayed her.  Julia was walking swiftly away, and
+Lieutenant Eaton, who was coming back from a morning parade of the
+company, increased his pace on seeing Julia, but she turned aside and
+walked towards Bayle.
+
+"Yes, but if I had not just spoken to her," muttered Sir Gordon, "she
+would have stopped.  Well, it is only natural, and I had no business to
+speak--no business to trouble myself about her.  Tom Porter says the old
+maid is bitterly mad about it, and declares the poor child is going to
+wreck her life as her mother did.  The old cat!  How dare she think such
+a thing!  The impudence!  Wishes the ship may be wrecked first and that
+we may all be drowned.  Ah! you're there, are you, sir?"
+
+"Yes, Sir Gordon.  Another cheroot?"
+
+"Can't you see I haven't smoked this, fool?  Here, give me a light!"
+
+Tom Porter's mahogany face did not change as he produced a piece of
+tinder and held it for his testy master to ignite his cigar.
+
+"Thank ye, Tom," said Sir Gordon, changing his tone.  "Here, don't go
+away.  What did that woman say?"
+
+"Thisbe, Sir Gordon?"
+
+"Yes; you know whom I mean.  About Miss Hallam?"
+
+"Wished we might all be wrecked and drowned before it came off."
+
+"Before what came off?"
+
+"A wedding with Lieutenant Eaton, Sir Gordon."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Principally because she says he's so handsome, Sir Gordon.  She hates
+handsome men."
+
+"Humph!  That's why she's so fond of you, Tom Porter."
+
+"Which she ain't, Sir Gordon," said Tom Porter dolefully.
+
+"You had been talking about weddings then?"
+
+"Well, just a little, Sir Gordon," said Tom Porter, not a muscle of
+whose countenance moved.  "I just said how nice it was to see two young
+folks so fond of each other."
+
+"As whom?"
+
+"As the Lufftenant and Miss Jooly, Sir Gordon; and that it would be just
+as nice for two middle-aged folks who had kept it all in store."
+
+"And is she going to marry you, then, when we get to port?"
+
+"No: Sir Gordon; it's all over.  She ain't the marrying sort."
+
+"Humph!  Marry a black woman, then, to spite her, and then ask her to
+come and see your wife."
+
+"No, Sir Gordon, beggin' your pardon, sir; I've been in the wrong, when
+I ought to have took you for an example.  It's all over, and I'm settled
+down thorough.  I have seen but one woman as I thought I'd like to
+splice."
+
+"And that was Mrs Hallam's old maid?"
+
+"Yes, Sir Gordon."
+
+"Why?  She isn't handsome."
+
+"Not outside, Sir Gordon; and I don't rightly know why I took to her,
+unless it was that she seemed so right down like--such a
+stick-to-you-through-fair-weather-and-foul sort of woman.  But it's all
+over now, Sir Gordon.  Things won't turn out as one likes, and it's of
+no use to try."
+
+"You're right, Tom Porter; you're a better philosopher than your master.
+There: that will do.  When shall we see land?"
+
+"Morrow morning, Sir Gordon.  Daybreak; not afore.  Any orders 'bout the
+shore?"
+
+"Orders?  What are we to do when we get there?  Tom Porter, if you could
+tell me what we are to do, I'd give you a hundred pounds.  There, give
+me a light, my cheroot's out again!"
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+A SORE PLACE.
+
+"Are you glad the voyage is nearly over?" said a soft little voice that
+made Bayle start.
+
+"Glad?" he said, as he turned to gaze in Julia's plaintive-looking face.
+"No; I am sorry."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why?  Because you have seemed so happy."
+
+He paused a few moments, as if afraid that his voice would tremble.
+
+"Because your mother has seemed so happy."  And, he added to himself:
+"Because I tremble for all that is to come."
+
+"Are you angry with me, Mr Bayle?" said Julia, after a pause.
+
+"Angry with you, my child?" he said, with his eyes brightening, though
+there was a piteous look in his face.  "Oh, no; how could I be?"
+
+"I don't know," she replied; "but you have grown more and more changed.
+I have seen so little of you lately, and you have avoided me."
+
+"But you have not been dull.  You have had many companions and friends."
+
+"Yes," she said quickly, "and they have been so kind; but I have seemed
+to regret the past days when we were all so quiet and happy together."
+
+"Hush!" he said quickly.  "Don't speak like that."
+
+"Not speak like that?  There, now you are angry with me again."
+
+"Angry?  No, no, my child," cried Bayle, whose voice trembled with
+emotion.  "I am not angry with you."
+
+"Yes; that's how I like to hear you speak," cried Julia.  "That is how
+you used to speak to me, and not in that grave, measured way, as if you
+were dissatisfied."
+
+"Julia," he said, hoarse with emotion, "how could I be dissatisfied when
+I see you happy?  Has it not been the wish of my life?"
+
+"Yes; I have always known it was.  Now you make me happy again; and you
+will always speak so to me?"
+
+"Always," he said, with his eyes lighting up with a strange fire.
+"Always, my child."
+
+"That's right," she cried.  "That is like my dear old teacher speaking
+to me again;" and her sweet, ingenuous eyes looked lovingly in his.
+
+But they saw no response to their tenderness, for the fire died out of
+Bayle's gaze, the red spots faded from his cheeks, and an agonising pang
+made him shudder, and then draw in a long, deep breath.
+
+At that moment Lieutenant Eaton approached, and Bayle saw the tell-tale
+colour come into Julia's cheeks.
+
+"It is fate, I suppose," he said, drawing back to give place to Eaton.
+
+Julia looked up at him quickly, as if she divined the words he had said
+to himself; but he did not speak, only smiled sadly, and walked towards
+where Mrs Hallam was gazing over the side.
+
+He shuddered as he thought of the meeting that must take place, and
+walked up and down slowly, thinking of his position, unheeded by Mrs
+Hallam, whose face was irradiated by the joy that filled her breast.
+
+He turned back to see that Eaton had led Julia to the other side of the
+vessel, and as she, too, stood with her hands resting on the bulwarks,
+Bayle could see that the young man's face was bright and animated; that
+he was talking quickly to the girl, whose head was slightly bent as
+though she was listening attentively to all he said.
+
+Christie Bayle drew a long breath as he walked slowly on.  His old,
+patient, long-suffering smile came upon his face, and now his lip ceased
+quivering, and he said softly:
+
+"If it is for her happiness.  Why not?"
+
+"And after all I have said," he heard from a quick voice beyond the
+awning.  "It's too bad, Jack.  He is proposing to her now.  What shall
+we do?"
+
+"Nothing.  Let him find all out for himself, and then cool down."
+
+"And half break the poor girl's heart?  I don't want that."
+
+Bayle hurried away, feeling as if he could bear no more.  The cabin
+seemed the best retreat, where he could take counsel with himself, and
+try and arrange some plan in which he could dispassionately leave out
+self, and act as he had vowed that he would--as a true friend to
+Millicent Hallam and her child.
+
+But he was not to reach his cabin without another mental sting, for as
+he descended he came upon Thisbe, looking red-eyed as if she had been
+crying, and he stopped to speak to her.
+
+"Matter, sir?" she answered; "and you ask me?  Go back on deck, and see
+for yourself, and say whether the old trouble is to come all over
+again."
+
+He felt as if he must speak angrily to the woman if he paused; and
+hurrying by her he shut himself in his cabin and stayed there for hours
+with the bustle of preparations for landing going on all around, the
+home of many months being looked upon now as a prison which every
+passenger was longing to quit, to gain the freedom of the shore.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+COMMUNING WITH SELF.
+
+It was evening when Bayle went on deck again, his old calm having
+returned.  He stopped short, and the elasticity of spirit that seemed to
+have come back--a feeling of hopefulness in keeping with the light
+champagny atmosphere, so full of life, died out again, even as the
+breeze that had wafted them on all day had now almost failed, and the
+ship glided very slowly through water that looked like liquid gold.
+
+"A few short hours," he said to himself, as he gazed at Mrs Hallam
+standing with her arm round Julia, bathed in the evening light, watching
+the golden clouds upon the horizon that they were told were land--to
+them the land of hope and joy, but to Christie Bayle a place of sorrow
+and of pain.
+
+"A few short hours," he said again, "and then the fond illusions must
+fall away, and they will be face to face with the truth."
+
+He crept away sick at heart to the other side, where Lieutenant Eaton,
+who seemed to be hovering about mother and daughter, eager to join them
+but kept away by respect for their desire to be alone, passed him with a
+short nod, hesitated, as if about to speak, and then went on again.
+
+Bayle waited hour after hour, ready should those in his charge require
+his services; but they did not move from their position, and it was
+Eaton who intercepted Thisbe, and took from her the scarves she was
+bringing to protect them from the night air; but only a few words
+passed, and he drew back to walk up and down till long after the
+Southern Cross was standing out among the glorious stars that looked so
+large and bright in the clear, dark sky above, when Mrs Hallam drew a
+deep breath and whispered a few words to Julia, and they descended to
+their cabin for the night, but not to sleep.
+
+Then by degrees the deck was left to the watch, and a strange silence
+fell, for a change had come upon all on board.  The first excitement
+that followed the look-out-man's cry of "Land ho!" had passed, and
+passengers and soldiers were gathered in groups after their busy
+preparation for the landing another day distant, and talked in whispers.
+
+Lower and lower sank the weary spirit of Christie Bayle, as he stood
+leaning on the bulwark, gazing away into the starry depths of the
+glorious night, for it seemed to him that his task was nearly done, that
+soon those whom he had loved so well would pass out of his care, and as
+he thought of Millicent Hallam sharing the home of her convict husband
+he murmured a prayer on her behalf.  Then his thoughts of the mother
+passed, and he recalled all that he had seen during the past months,
+above all, Julia's excited manner that day, and the conduct of
+Lieutenant Eaton.  And as he pondered his thoughts took somewhat this
+form:
+
+"Young, handsome, a thorough gentleman, what wonder that he should win
+her young love? but will he stand the test?  A convict's daughter--an
+officer of the King.  He must know; and if he does stand the test--"
+
+Christie Bayle stood with his hands clasped tightly together, as once
+more a strange agony of soul pierced him to the core.  He saw himself
+again the young curate entranced by the beauty of a fair young English
+girl in her happy home, declaring his love for her, laying bare his
+hopes, and learning the bitter lesson that those hopes were vain.  He
+saw again the long years of peaceful friendship with a new love growing
+for the child who had been his principal waking thought.  He saw her
+grow to womanhood, loving him as he had loved her--with a love that had
+been such as a father might bear his child, till the peaceful calm had
+been broken as he saw that Julia listened eagerly and with brightening
+eyes to the words of this young officer; and now it was that like a blow
+the knowledge came, the knowledge that beneath all this tenderness had
+been a love of a stronger nature, ready to burst forth and bloom when it
+was again too late.
+
+"A dream--a dream," he said sadly.  "How could she love me otherwise
+than as she said--as her dear teacher?"
+
+"A dream," he said again.  "`Thy will be done!'"
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+"AT LAST!"
+
+A busy day on ship-board, with the excitement growing fast, and officers
+and men cheerfully turning themselves into guides and describers of the
+scenery on either hand.
+
+A glorious day, with a brisk breeze, and the white sails curving out,
+and the great vessel, that had borne them safely to their destination,
+careening gently over, with the white foam dividing and swelling away to
+starboard and to port.
+
+The sky overhead might have been that of Italy, so gloriously bright and
+pure it seemed to all, as at last the vessel glided in between the
+guardian giants of the port, and then, as they stood well within the two
+grey rocky precipices, the swell upon which they had softly swayed died
+away, the breeze sank, and the great white sails flapped and filled and
+flapped, the ship slowly slackened its speed, and at last lay
+motionless, waiting for the tide that would bear them on to the
+anchorage within.
+
+It was evening when the tantalising waiting was at an end, and the
+expectant groups saw themselves once more gliding on and on, past a long
+beach of white sand, into the estuary that, minute by minute, took more
+and more the aspect of some widening river.
+
+Seen by the glory of the sinking sun, and after the long, monotonous
+voyage, it was like some glimpse of Eden, and with one consent the
+soldiers sent forth a hearty cheer, which died away into silence as the
+great ship glided on.  Jutting promontories, emerald islands, golden
+waters, and a sky like topaz, as the sun slowly sank.  Curving bays
+filled with roseate hues reflected from the sky, swelling hills in the
+distance of wondrous greyish green, with deepening slopes of softly
+darkening shadows.  The harbour was without a ripple, and glistened as
+polished metal, and mirrored here and there the shore.  Away in the
+distance, the soft greyish verdure stood out in the clear air; and as
+the wearied travellers drank in the glorious scene, there was a
+solemnity in its beauty that oppressed them, even unto tears.
+
+Millicent Hallam stood in that self-same spot where she had so patiently
+watched for this her promised land, and as she bent forward with
+half-extended hands, Julia saw her lips part, and heard from time to
+time some broken utterances, as the tears of joy fell slowly from her
+dreamy eyes.
+
+Time after time the most intimate of their fellow-passengers approached,
+but there was that in the attitude of mother and daughter which
+commanded respect, and they drew away.
+
+On glided the ship, nearer and nearer, with the houses and rough
+buildings of the settlement slowly coming into sight, while, as the sun
+flashed from the windows, and turned the sand that fringed the shore for
+the time to tawny gold, the hearts of mother and daughter seemed to go
+out, to leap the intervening distance, and pour forth their longings to
+him who, they felt, was watching the ship that bore to him all he held
+dear.
+
+Golden changing to orange, to amber, to ruddy wine.  Then one deep glow,
+and the river-like harbour for a few minutes as if of molten metal
+cooling into purple, into black, and then the placid surface glistening
+with fallen stars.
+
+And as Julia pressed nearer to the trusting woman, who gazed straight
+before her at the lights that twinkled in the scattered houses of the
+port, she heard a sweet, rich voice murmur softly:
+
+"Robert, husband--I have come!"  And again, soft as the murmur of the
+tide upon the shore:
+
+"My God, I thank thee!  At last--at last!"
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+A STRANGE ENCOUNTER.
+
+It had been hard work to persuade her, but Mrs Hallam had consented at
+last to rest quietly in the embryo hotel, while Bayle obtained the
+necessary passes for her and her daughter to see Hallam.  This done, he
+took the papers and letters of recommendation he had brought and waited
+upon the governor.
+
+There was a good deal of business going on, and Bayle was shown into a
+side room where a clerk was writing, and asked to sit down.
+
+"Your turn will come in about an hour," said the official who showed him
+in, and Bayle sat down to wait.
+
+As he looked up, he saw that the clerk was watching him intently; and as
+their eyes met, he said in a low voice:
+
+"May I ask if you came out in the _Sea King_?"
+
+"Yes; I landed this morning."
+
+"Any good news, sir, from the old country?"
+
+"Nothing particular; but I can let you have a paper or two, if you
+like."
+
+"Thank you, sir, I should be very glad; but I meant Ireland.  You
+thought I meant England."
+
+"But you are not an Irishman?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Have I forgotten my brogue?"
+
+"I did not detect it."
+
+"Perhaps I've forgotten it," said the man sadly, "as they seem to have
+forgotten me.  Ten years make a good deal of difference."
+
+"Have you been out here ten years?"
+
+"Yes, sir, more."
+
+"Do you know anything about the prisons?"
+
+The clerk flushed, and then laughed bitterly.
+
+"Oh, yes," he said; "I know something about them."
+
+"And the prisoners?"
+
+"Ye-es.  Bah! what is the use of keeping it back?  Of course I do, sir.
+I was sent out for the benefit of my country."
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I am a lifer."
+
+Bayle gazed at the man in surprise.
+
+"You look puzzled, sir," he said.  "Why, almost every other man out here
+is a convict."
+
+"But you have been pardoned?"
+
+"Pardoned?  No; I am only an assigned servant I can be sent back to the
+chain-gang at any time if I give offence.  There, for heaven's sake,
+sir, don't look at me like that!  If I offended against the laws, I have
+been bitterly punished."
+
+"You mistake my looks," said Bayle gently; "they did not express my
+feelings to you, for they were those of sorrow."
+
+"Sorrow?" said the man, who spoke as if he were making a great effort to
+keep down his feelings.  "Ay, sir, you would say that if you knew all I
+had endured.  It has been enough to make a man into a fiend, herding
+with the wretches sent out here, and at any moment, at the caprice of
+some brutal warder or other official ordered the lash."
+
+Bayle drew his breath between his teeth hard.
+
+"There, I beg your pardon, sir; but the sight of a face from over the
+sea, and a gentle word, sets all the old pangs stinging again.  I'm
+better treated now.  This governor is a very different man to the last."
+
+"Perhaps you may get a full pardon yet," said Bayle; "your conduct has
+evidently been good."
+
+"No.  There will be no pardon for me, sir.  I was too great a criminal."
+
+"What--But I have no right to ask you," said Bayle.
+
+"Yes, ask me, sir.  My offence?  Well, like a number of other hot-headed
+young men, I thought to make myself a patriot and free Ireland.  That
+was my crime."
+
+"Tell me," said Bayle, after a time, "did you ever encounter a prisoner
+named Hallam?"
+
+"Robert Hallam--tall, dark, handsome man?"
+
+"Yes; that answers the description."
+
+"Sent over with a man named Crellock, for a bank robbery, was it not?"
+
+"The same man.  Where is he now?"
+
+"He was up the country as a convict servant, shepherding; but I think he
+is back in the gangs again.  Some of them are busy on the new road."
+
+"Was he--supposed to be innocent out here?"
+
+"Innocent?  No.  It was having to herd with such scoundrels made our
+fate the more bitter.  Such men as he and his mate--"
+
+"His mate?"
+
+"Yes--the man Crellock--were never supposed to be very--"
+
+He ceased speaking, and began to write quickly, for a door was opened,
+and an attendant requested Bayle to follow him.
+
+He was ushered into the presence of an officer, who apologised for the
+governor being deeply engaged, consequent upon the arrival of the ship
+with the draft of men.  But the necessary passes were furnished, and
+Bayle left.
+
+As he was passing out with the documents in his hand he came suddenly
+upon Captain Otway and the Lieutenant, both in uniform.
+
+The Captain nodded in a friendly way and passed on; but Eaton stopped.
+
+"One moment, Mr Bayle," he said rather huskily.  "I want you to answer
+a question."
+
+Bayle bowed, and then met his eyes calmly, and without a line in his
+countenance to betoken agitation.
+
+"I--I want you to tell me--in confidence, Mr Bayle--why Mrs Hallam and
+her daughter have come out here?"
+
+"I am not at liberty, Lieutenant Eaton, to explain to a stranger Mrs
+Hallam's private affairs."
+
+"Then will you tell me this?  Why have you come here to-day?  But I can
+see.  Those are passes to allow you to go beyond the convict lines?"
+
+"They are," said Bayle.
+
+"That will do, sir," said the young man with his lip quivering; and
+hurrying on he rejoined Captain Otway, who was standing awaiting his
+coming in the doorway, in front of which a sentry was passing up and
+down.
+
+Bayle went back to the hotel, where Mrs Hallam was watching
+impatiently, and Julia with her, both dressed for going out.
+
+"You have been so long," cried the former; "but tell me--you have the
+passes?"
+
+"Yes; they are here," he said.
+
+"Give them to me," she cried, with feverish haste.  "Come, Julia."
+
+"You cannot go alone, Mrs Hallam," said Bayle in a remonstrant tone.
+"Try and restrain yourself.  Then we will go on at once."
+
+She looked at him half angrily; but the look turned to one of appeal as
+she moved towards the door.
+
+"But are you quite prepared?" he whispered.  "Do you still hold to the
+intention of taking Julia?"
+
+"Yes, yes," she cried fiercely.  "Christie Bayle, you cannot feel with
+me.  Do you not realise that it is the husband and father waiting to see
+his wife and child?"
+
+Bayle said no more then, but walked with them through the roughly marked
+out streets of the straggling port, towards the convict lines.
+
+"I shall see you to the gates," he said, "secure your admission, and
+then await your return."
+
+Mrs Hallam pressed his hand, and then as he glanced at Julia, he saw
+that she was trembling and deadly pale.  The next minute, however, she
+had mastered her emotion, and they walked quickly on, Mrs Hallam with
+her head erect, and proud of mien, as she seemed in every movement to be
+wishing to impress upon her child that they should rather glory in their
+visit than feel shame.  There was something almost triumphant in the
+look she directed at Bayle, a look which changed to angry reproach, as
+she saw his wrinkled brow and the trouble in his face.
+
+Half-way to the prison gates there was a measured tramp of feet, and a
+quick, short order was given in familiar tones.
+
+The next moment the head of a company of men came into sight; and Bayle
+recognised the faces.  In the rear were Captain Otway and Lieutenant
+Eaton, both of whom saluted, Mrs Hallam acknowledging each bow with the
+dignity of a queen.
+
+Bayle tried hard, but he could not help glancing at Julia, to see that
+she was deadly pale, but looking as erect and proud as her mother.
+
+Captain Otway's company were on their way to their barracks.  They had
+just passed the prison gates; and it was next to impossible for Mrs
+Hallam and her daughter to be going anywhere but to the large building
+devoted to the convicts.
+
+Bayle knew that the two officers must feel this as they saluted; and, in
+spite of himself, he could not forbear feeling a kind of gratification.
+For it seemed to him that henceforth a gulf would be placed between
+them, and the pleasant friendship of the voyage be at an end.
+
+Mrs Hallam knew it, but she did not shrink, and her heart bounded as
+she saw the calm demeanour of her child.
+
+The measured tramp of the soldiers' feet was still heard, when a fresh
+party of men came into sight; and as he partly realised what was before
+him, Bayle stretched out his hand to arrest his companions.
+
+"Come back," he said quickly; "we will go on after these men have
+passed."
+
+"No," said Mrs Hallam firmly, "we will go on now, Christie Bayle, do
+you fancy that we would shrink from anything at a time like this?"
+
+"But for her sake," whispered Bayle.
+
+"She is my child, and we know our duty," retorted Mrs Hallam proudly.
+
+But her face was paler, and she darted a quick glance at Julia, whose
+eyes dilated, and whose grasp of her mother's arm was closer, as from
+out of the advancing group came every now and then a shriek of pain,
+with sharp cries, yells, and a fierce volley of savage curses.
+
+The party consisted of an old sergeant and three pensioners with fixed
+bayonets, one leading, two behind a party of eight men, in grotesque
+rough garments.  Four of them walked in front, following the first
+guard, and behind them the other four carried a litter or stretcher,
+upon which, raised on a level with their shoulders, they bore a man, who
+was writhing in acute pain, and now cursing his bearers for going so
+fast, now directing his oaths against the authorities.
+
+"It'll be your turn next," he yelled, as he threw an arm over the side
+of the stretcher.  "Can't you go slow?  Ah, the cowards--the cowards!"
+
+Here the man rolled out a fierce volley of imprecations, his voice
+sounding hoarse and strange; but his bearers, morose, pallid-looking
+men, with a savage, downcast look, paid no heed, tramping on, and the
+guard of pensioners taking it all as a matter of course.
+
+At a glance the difference between them was most marked.
+
+The pensioner guard had a smart, independent air, there, was an
+easy-going, cheery look in their brown faces; while in those of the men
+they guarded, and upon whom they would have been called to fire if there
+were an attempt to escape, there were deeply stamped in the hollow
+cheek, sunken eye, and graven lines, crime, misery, and degradation, and
+that savage recklessness that seems to lower man to a degree far beneath
+the beast of the jungle or wild.  The closely-cropped hair, the shorn
+chins with the stubble of several days' growth, and the fierce glare of
+the convicts' overshadowed eyes as they caught sight of the two
+well-dressed ladies, sent a thrill through Bayle's breast, and he would
+gladly have even now forced his companions to retreat, but it was
+impossible.  For as they came up, the ruffian on the stretcher to which
+he was strapped, uttered an agonising cry of pain, and then yelled out
+the one word, "Water!"
+
+Julia uttered a low sobbing cry, and, before Bayle or Mrs Hallam could
+realise her act, she had started forward and laid her hand upon the old
+sergeant's arm, the tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried:
+
+"Oh, sir, do you not hear him?  Is there no water here?"
+
+"Halt!" shouted the sergeant; and with military precision the _cortege_
+stopped.  "Set him down, lads."  The convicts gave a half-turn and
+lowered the handles of the stretcher, retaining them for a moment, and
+then, in the same automatic way, placed their burden on the dusty earth.
+It was quickly and smoothly done, in silence, but the movement seemed
+to cause the man intense pain, and he writhed and cursed horribly at his
+bearers, ending by asking again for water.
+
+"It isn't far to the hospital, miss," said the sergeant; "and he has had
+some once.  Here, Jones, give me your canteen."
+
+One of the guard unslung his water-tin and handed it to Julia, who
+seized it eagerly, while the sergeant turned to Bayle and said in a
+quick whisper:
+
+"Hadn't you better get the ladies away, sir?"
+
+By this time Julia was on her knees by the side of the stretcher,
+holding the canteen to the lips of the wretched man, who drank with
+avidity, rolling his starting eyes from side to side.
+
+"Has there been a battle?" whispered Julia to the pensioner who had
+handed her the water-tin.  "He is dreadfully wounded, is he not?  Will
+he die?"
+
+Julia's quickly following questions were heard by the eight convicts,
+who were looking on with heavy, brutal curiosity, but not one glanced at
+his companions.
+
+"Bless your heart, no, miss.  A few days in horspital will put him
+right," said the man, smiling.
+
+"How can you be so cruel?" panted the girl indignantly.  "Suppose you
+were lying there?"
+
+"Well, I hope, miss," said the man good-humouredly, "that if I had been
+blackguard enough to have my back scratched, I should not be such a cur
+as to howl like that."
+
+"Julia, my child, come away," whispered Bayle, taking her hand and,
+trying to raise her as the sergeant looked on good-humouredly.  "The man
+has been flogged for some offence.  This is no place for you."
+
+"Hush!" she cried, as, drawing away her hand, she bent over the wretched
+man and wiped the great drops of perspiration from his forehead.
+
+He ceased his restless writhing and gazed up at the sweet face bending
+over him with a look of wonder.  Then his eyes dilated, and his lips
+parted.  The next moment he had turned his eyes upon Mrs Hallam, who
+was bending over her child half-trying to raise her, but with a horrible
+fascination in her gaze, while a curious silence seemed to have fallen
+on the group--so curious, that when one of the convicts moved slightly,
+the clank of a ring he wore sounded strangely loud in the hot sunshine.
+
+"By your leave, miss," said the sergeant, not unkindly.  "I daren't
+stop.  Fall in, my lads!  Stretchers!  Forward!"
+
+As the man, who was perfectly silent now, was raised by the convicts to
+the level of their shoulders, he wrenched his head round that he might
+turn his distorted features, purple with their deep flush, and continue
+his wondering stare at Julia and Mrs Hallam.
+
+Then the tramp and clank, tramp and clank went on, the guard raising
+each a hand to his forehead, and smiling at the group they left, while
+the old sergeant took off his cap, the sun shining down on a good manly
+English face, as he took a step towards Julia.
+
+"I beg pardon, miss," he said; "I'm only a rough old pensioner--but if
+you'd let me kiss your hand."
+
+Julia smiled in the sergeant's brown face as she laid her white little
+hand in his, and he raised it with rugged reverence to his lips.
+
+Then, saluting Mrs Hallam, he turned quickly to Bayle:
+
+"I did say, sir, as this place was just about like--you know what; but I
+see we've got angels even here."
+
+He went off at the double after his men, twenty paces ahead, while
+Bayle, warned by Julia, had just time to catch Mrs Hallam as she
+reeled, and would have fallen.
+
+"Mother, dear mother!" cried Julia.  "This scene was too terrible for
+you."
+
+"No, no!  I am better now," said Mrs Hallam hoarsely.  "Let us go on.
+Did you see?" she whispered, turning to Bayle.
+
+"See?" he said reproachfully.  "Yes; but I tried so hard to spare you
+this scene."
+
+"Yes; but it was to be," she said in the same hoarse whisper, as, with
+one hand she held Julia from her, and spoke almost in her companion's
+ear.  "You did not know him," she said.  "I did; at once."
+
+"That man?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Then, after a painful pause, she added:
+
+"It was Stephen Crellock."
+
+"Her husband's associate and friend," said Bayle, as he stood outside
+the prison gates waiting; for, after the presentation of the proper
+forms, Millicent Hallam and her child had been admitted by special
+permission to see the prisoner named upon their pass, and Christie Bayle
+remained without, seeing in imagination the meeting between husband,
+wife, and child, and as he waited, seated on a block of stone, his head
+went down upon his hands, and his spirit sank very low, for all was dark
+upon the life-path now ahead.
+
+VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+IN THE CONVICT BARRACKS.
+
+"Be firm, my darling," whispered Mrs Hallam; and as they followed their
+guide, hand in hand, Julia seemed to take strength and fortitude from
+the proud, pale face, and eyes bright with matronly love and hope.
+
+"Mother!"
+
+Only that word, but it was enough.  Millicent Hallam was satisfied, for
+she read in the tone and in the look that accompanied it the fact that
+her teaching had not been in vain, and that she had come to meet her
+martyr husband with the love of wife and child.
+
+The officer who showed them into a bare room, with its grated windows,
+glanced at them curiously before leaving: and then they had to wait
+through, what seemed to them, an age of agony, listening to the slow,
+regular tramp of a couple of sentries, one seeming to be in a passage
+close at hand, the other beneath the window of the room where they were
+seated upon a rough bench.
+
+"Courage! my child," said Mrs Hallam, looking at Julia with a smile;
+and then it was the latter who had to start up and support her, for
+there was the distant sound of feet, and Mrs Hallam's face contracted
+as from some terrible spasm, and she swayed heavily sidewise.
+
+"Heaven give me strength!" she groaned; and then, clinging together, the
+suffering women watched the door as the heavy tramp came nearer, and
+with it a strange hollow, echoing sound.
+
+As Julia watched the door the remembrance of the stern, handsome face of
+her childhood seemed to come up from the past--that face with the
+profusion of well-tended, wavy black hair, brushed back from the high,
+white forehead; the bright, piercing eyes that were shaded by long,
+heavy lashes; the closely-shaven lips and chin, and the thick, dark
+whiskers--the face of the portrait in their little London home.  And it
+seemed to her that she would see it again directly, that the old
+sternness would have given place to a smile of welcome, and as her heart
+beat fast her eyes filled with tears, and she was gazing through a mist
+that dimmed her sight.
+
+The door was thrown open; the tramp of the footsteps ceased, and as the
+door was abruptly closed, mother and daughter remained unmoved, clinging
+more tightly together, staring wildly through their tear-blinded eyes at
+the gaunt convict standing there with face that seemed to have been
+stamped in the mould of the poor wretch's they had so lately seen:
+closely-cropped grey hair, stubbly, silvered beard, and face drawn in a
+half-derisive smile.
+
+"Well!" he said, in a strange, hoarse voice that was brutal in its
+tones; and a sound issued from his throat that bore some resemblance to
+a laugh.  "Am I so changed?"
+
+"Robert! husband!"
+
+The words rang through the cell-like room like the cry of some stricken
+life, and Millicent Hallam threw herself upon the convict's breast.
+
+He bent over her as he held her tightly, and placed his mouth to her
+ear, while the beautiful quivering lips were turned towards his in their
+agony of longing for his welcoming kiss.
+
+"Hush!  Listen!" he said, and he gave her a sharp shake.  "Have you
+brought the tin case?"
+
+She nodded as she clung to him, clasping him more tightly to her heaving
+breast.
+
+"You've got it safely?"
+
+She nodded quickly again.
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+She breathed hard, and attempted to speak, but it was some time before
+she could utter the expected words.
+
+"Why don't you speak?" he said in a rough whisper.  "You have it safe?"
+
+She nodded again.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"It--it is at--the hotel," panted Mrs Hallam.
+
+"Quite safe?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Unopened?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Thank God!"
+
+His manner seemed to change, his eyes brightened, and his brutalised
+countenance altogether looked less repellent, as he uttered those words.
+As he stood there at first, his head hung, as it were, forward from
+between his shoulders, and his whole attitude had a despicable,
+cringing, trampled-down look that now seemed to pass away.  He filled
+out and drew himself up; his eyes brightened as if hope had been borne
+to him by the coming of wife and child.  It was no longer the same man,
+so it seemed to Julia as she stood aloof, trembling and waiting for him
+to speak to her.
+
+"Good girl! good wife!" said Hallam, in a low voice; and with some show
+of affection he kissed the quivering woman, who, as she clasped him to
+her heart and grew to him once more, saw nothing of the change, but
+closed her eyes mentally and really, the longing of years satisfied,
+everything forgotten, even the presence of Julia, in the great joy of
+being united once again.
+
+"There!" he said suddenly; "that must do now.  There is only a short
+time, and I have lots to say, my gal."
+
+Millicent Hallam's eyes opened, and she quite started back from her love
+romance to reality, his words sounded so harsh, his language was so
+coarse and strange; but she smiled again directly, a happy, joyous
+smile, as nestling within her husband's left arm, she laid her cheek
+upon the coarse woollen convict garb, and clinging there sent with a
+flash from her humid eyes a loving invitation to her child.
+
+She did not speak, but her action was eloquent as words, and bade the
+trembling girl take the place she had half-vacated, the share she
+offered--the strong right arm, and the half of her husband's breast.
+
+Julia read and knew, and in an instant she too was clinging to the
+convict, looking piteously in his scarred, brutalised countenance, with
+eyes that strove so hard to be full of love, but which gazed through no
+medium of romance.  Strive how she would, all seemed so hideously real--
+this hard, coarse-looking, rough-voiced man was not the father she had
+been taught to reverence and love; and it was with a heart full of
+misery and despair that she gazed at him with her lips quivering, and
+then burst into a wild fit of sobbing as she buried her face in his
+breast.
+
+"There, there, don't cry," he said almost impatiently; and there was no
+working of the face, nothing to indicate that he was moved by the
+passionate love of his faithful wife, or the agony of the beautiful girl
+whose sobs shook his breast.  "Time's precious now.  Wait till I get out
+of this place.  You go and sit down, Julie.  By jingo!" he continued,
+with a look of admiration as he held her off at arm's length, "what a
+handsome gal you've grown!  No sweetheart yet, I hope?"
+
+Julia shrank from him with scarlet face, and as he loosed her hand she
+shrank back to the rough seat, with her eyes troubled, and her hands
+trembling.
+
+"Now, Milly, my gal," said Hallam, drawing his wife's arm through his,
+and leading her beneath the window as he spoke in a low voice once more,
+"you have that case safe and unopened?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then look here!  Business.  I must be rough and plain.  You have
+brought me my freedom."
+
+"Robert!"
+
+Only that word, but so full of frantic joy.
+
+"Quiet, and listen.  You will do exactly as I tell you?"
+
+"Yes.  Can you doubt?"
+
+"No.  Now look here.  You will take a good house at once, the best you
+can.  If you can't get one--they're very scarce--the hotel will do.
+Stay there, and behave as if you were well off--as you are."
+
+"Robert, I have nothing," she gasped.
+
+"Yes, you have," he said with a laugh.  "I have; and we are one."
+
+"You have?  Money?"
+
+"Of course.  Do you suppose a man is at work out here for a dozen years
+without making some?  There! don't you worry about that: you're new.
+You'll find plenty of men, who came out as convicts, rich men now with
+land of their own.  But we are wasting time.  You have brought out my
+freedom."
+
+"Your pardon?"
+
+"No.  Nonsense!  I shall have to stay out here; but it does not matter
+now.  Only go and do as I tell you, and carefully, for you are only a
+woman in a strange place, and alone till you get me out."
+
+"Mr Bayle is here, and Sir Gordon--"
+
+"Bayle!" cried Hallam, catching her wrist with a savage grip and staring
+in an angry way at the agitated face before him.
+
+"Yes; he has been so helpful and true all through our trouble, and--"
+
+"Curse Bayle!" he muttered.  Then aloud, and in a fierce, impatient way:
+"Never mind that now, I shall have to go back to the gang directly, and
+I have not said half I want to say."
+
+"I will not speak again," she said eagerly.  "Tell me what to do."
+
+"Take house or apartments at once; behave as if you were well off--I
+tell you that you are; do all yourself, and send in an application to
+the authorities for two assigned servants."
+
+"Assigned servants?"
+
+"Yes--convict servants," said Hallam impatiently.  "There! you must
+know.  There are so many that the Government are glad to get the
+well-behaved convicts off their hands, and into the care of settlers who
+undertake their charge.  You want two men, as you have settled here.
+You will have papers to sign, and give undertakings; but do it all
+boldly, and you will select two.  They won't ask you any questions about
+your taking up land, they are too glad to get rid of us.  If they do ask
+anything, you can boldly say you want them for butler and coachman."
+
+"But, Robert, I do not understand."
+
+"Do as I tell you," he said sharply.  "You will select two men--myself
+and Stephen Crellock."
+
+"Yourself and Stephen Crellock?"
+
+"Yes.  Don't look so bewildered, woman.  It is the regular thing, and we
+shall be set at liberty."
+
+"At liberty?"
+
+"Yes, to go anywhere in the colony.  You are answerable to the
+Government for us."
+
+"But, Robert, you would come as--my servant?"
+
+"Pooh!  Only in name.  So long as you claim us as your servants, that is
+all that is wanted.  Plenty are freed on these terms, and once they are
+out, go and live with their families, like any one else."
+
+"This is done here?"
+
+"To be sure it is.  I tell you that once a man has been in the gangs
+here for a few years they are glad to get him off their hands, so as to
+leave room for others who are coming out.  Why, Milly, they could not
+keep all who are sent away from England, and people are easier and more
+forgiving out here.  Hundreds of those you see here were lags."
+
+"Lags?"
+
+"Bah! how innocent you are.  Well, convicts.  Now, quick! they are
+coming.  You understand?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you will do as I tell you?"
+
+"Everything," said Mrs Hallam.
+
+"Of course you cannot make this a matter of secrecy.  It does not matter
+who knows.  But the tin case; remember that is for me alone."
+
+"But the authorities," said Mrs Hallam; "they will know I am your
+wife."
+
+"The authorities will trouble nothing about it.  I have a fairly good
+record, and they will be glad.  As for Crellock--"
+
+"That man!" gasped Mrs Hallam.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"We saw him--as we came."
+
+Hallam's face puckered.
+
+"Poor fellow," he said hastily.  "Ah, that was a specimen of the cruel
+treatment we receive.  It was unfortunate.  But we can't talk about
+that.  There they are.  Remember!"
+
+She pressed the coarse, hard hand that was holding hers as the door was
+thrown open, and without another word Hallam obeyed the sign made by the
+officer in the doorway, and, as the two women crept together, Julia
+receiving no further recognition, they saw him sink from his erect
+position, his head went down, his back rounded, and he went out.
+
+Then the door shut loudly, and they stood listening, as the steps died
+away, save those of the sentries in the passage and beneath the window.
+
+The silence, as they stood in that blank, cell-like room, was terrible;
+and when at last Julia spoke, her mother started and stared at her
+wildly from the confused rush of thought that was passing through her
+brain.
+
+"Mother, is it some dreadful dream?"
+
+Mrs Hallam's lips parted, but no words came, and for the moment she
+seemed to be sharing her child's mental shock, the terrible
+disillusioning to which she had been subjected.
+
+The recovery was quick, though, as she drew a long breath.
+
+"Dream?  No, my child, it is real; and at last we can rescue him from
+his dreadful fate."
+
+Whatever thoughts she may have had that militated against her hopes she
+crushed down, forcing herself to see nothing but the result of a
+terrible persecution, and ready to be angered with herself for any
+doubts as to her duty.
+
+In this spirit she followed the man who had led them in back to the
+gates, where Bayle was waiting; and as he gazed anxiously in the faces
+of the two women it was to see Julie's scared, white, and ready to look
+appealingly in his, while Mrs Hallam's was radiant and proud with the
+light of her true woman's love and devotion to him she told herself it
+was her duty to obey.
+
+That night mother and daughter, clasped in each other's arms, knelt and
+prayed, the one for strength to carry out her duty, and restore Robert
+Hallam to his place in the world of men; the other for power to love the
+father whom she had crossed the great ocean to gain--the man who had
+seemed to be so little like the father of her dreams.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER ONE.
+
+IN THE NEW LAND--THE SITUATION.
+
+"Look here, Bayle, this is about the maddest thing I ever knew.  Will
+you have the goodness to tell me why we are stopping here?"
+
+Bayle looked up from the book he was reading in the pleasant room that
+formed their home, one which Tom Porter had found no difficulty in
+fitting up in good cabin style.
+
+A year had glided by since they landed, a year that Sir Gordon had
+passed in the most unsatisfactory way.
+
+"Why are we stopping here?"
+
+"Yes.  Didn't I speak plainly?  Why are we stopping here?  For goodness'
+sake, Bayle, don't you take to aggravating me by repeating my words!
+I'm irritable enough without that!"
+
+"Nonsense, my dear old friend!" cried Bayle, rising.
+
+"Hang it, man, don't throw my age in my teeth!  I can't help being old!"
+
+"May I live to be as old," said Bayle, smiling, and laying his hand on
+Sir Gordon's shoulder.
+
+"Bah! don't pray for that, man!  Why should you want to live?  To see
+all your pet schemes knocked on the head, and those you care for go to
+the bad, while your aches and pains increase, and you are gliding down
+the hill of life a wretched, selfish old man, unloved, uncared for.
+There, life is all a miserable mistake."
+
+"Uncared for, eh?" said Bayle.  "Have you no friends?"
+
+"Not one," groaned the old man, writhing, as he felt a twinge in his
+back.  "Oh, this bitter south wind! it's worse than our north!"
+
+"Shame!  Why, Tom Porter watches you night and day.  He would die for
+you."
+
+"So would a dog.  The scoundrel only thinks of how much money I shall
+leave him when I go."
+
+Unheard by either, Tom Porter had entered the room, sailor fashion,
+barefoot, in the easy canvas suit he wore when yachting with his master.
+He had brought in a basin of broth of his own brewing, as he termed
+it--for Sir Gordon was unwell--a plate with a couple of slices of bread
+of his own toasting in the other hand, and he was holding the silver
+spoon from Sir Gordon's travelling canteen beneath his chin.
+
+He heard every word as he stood waiting respectfully to bring in his
+master's "'levens," as he called it; and, instead of getting the sherry
+from the cellaret, he began screwing up his hard face, and showing his
+emotion by working about his bare toes.
+
+As Sir Gordon finished his bitter speech, Tom Porter took a step forward
+and threw the basin of mutton broth, basin, plate, and all, under the
+grate with a crash, and stalked towards the door.
+
+"You scoundrel!" roared Sir Gordon.  "You, Tom Porter, stop!"
+
+"Be damned if I do!" growled the man.  "There's mutiny on, and I leave
+the ship."
+
+_Bang_!
+
+The door was closed violently, and Sir Gordon looked helplessly up at
+Bayle.
+
+"You see!"
+
+"Yes," said Bayle, "I see.  Poor fellow!  Why did you wound his feelings
+like that?"
+
+"There!" cried Sir Gordon; "now you side with the scoundrel.
+Twenty-five years has he been with me, and look at my soup!"
+
+Bayle laughed.
+
+"Yes: that's right: laugh at me.  I'm getting old and weak.  Laugh at
+me.  I suppose the next thing will be that you will go off and leave me
+here in the lurch."
+
+"That is just my way, is it not?" said Bayle, smiling.
+
+"Well, no," grumbled Sir Gordon, "I suppose it is not.  But then you are
+such a fool, Bayle.  I haven't patience with you!"
+
+"I'm afraid I am a great trial to you."
+
+"You are--a terrible trial; every one's a terrible trial--everything
+goes wrong.  That blundering ass Tom Porter must even go and knock a
+hole in the _Sylph_ on the rocks."
+
+"Yes, that was unfortunate," said Bayle.
+
+"Here: I shall go back.  It's of no use staying here.  Everything I see
+aggravates me.  Matters are getting worse with the Hallams.  Let's go
+home, Bayle."
+
+Christie Bayle stood looking straight before him for some time, and then
+shook his head softly.
+
+"No: not yet," he said at last.
+
+"But I can't go back without you, man; and it is of no use to stay.  As
+I said before--Why am I stopping here?"
+
+Bayle looked at him in his quiet, smiling way for some moments before
+replying.
+
+"In the furtherance of your old scheme of unselfishness, and in the hope
+of doing good to the friends we love."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!  Tush, man!  Absurd!  I wanted to be friends, and be
+helpful; but that's all over now.  See what is going on.  Look at that
+girl.  Next thing we hear will be that she is married to one of those
+two fellows."
+
+"I think if she accepted Lieutenant Eaton, and he married her, and took
+her away from this place, it would be the best thing that could happen."
+
+"Humph!  I don't!" muttered Sir Gordon.  "Then look at Mrs Hallam."
+
+Bayle drew in his breath with a low hiss.
+
+"It is horrible, man--it is horrible!" cried Sir Gordon excitedly.
+"Bayle, you know how I loved that woman twenty years ago?  Well, it was
+impossible; it would have been May and December even then, for I'm a
+very old man, Bayle--older than you think.  I was an old fool, perhaps,
+but it was my nature.  I loved her very dearly.  It was not to be; but
+the old love isn't dead.  Bayle, old fellow, if I had been a good man I
+should say that the old love was purified of its grosser parts, but that
+would not fit with me."
+
+"Why judge yourself so harshly?"
+
+"Because I deserve it, man.  Well, well, time went on, and when we met
+again, I can't describe what I felt over that child.  At times, when her
+pretty dark face had the look of that scoundrel Hallam in it, I hated
+her; but when her eyes lit up with that sweet, innocent smile, the tears
+used to come into mine, and I felt as if it was Millicent Luttrell a
+child again, and that it would have been the culmination of earthly
+happiness to have said, this is my darling child."
+
+"Yes," said Bayle softly.
+
+"I worshipped that girl, Bayle.  It was for her sake I came over here to
+this horrible pandemonium, to watch over and be her guardian.  I could
+not have stayed away.  But I must go now.  I can't bear it; I can't
+stand it any longer."
+
+"You will not go," said Bayle slowly.
+
+"Yes, I tell you, I must.  It is horrible.  I don't think she is
+ungrateful, poor child; but she is being brutalised by companionship
+with that scoundrel's set."
+
+"No, no!  For heaven's sake don't say that!"
+
+"I do say it," cried the old man impetuously, "she and her mother too.
+How can they help it with such surroundings?  The decent people will not
+go--only that Eaton and Mrs Otway.  Bless the woman!  I thought her a
+forward, shameless soldier's wife, but she has the heart of a true lady,
+and keeps to the Hallams in spite of all."
+
+"It is very horrible," said Bayle; "but we are helpless."
+
+"Helpless?  Yes; if he would only kill himself with his wretched drink,
+or get made an end of somehow."
+
+"Hush!" said Bayle, rather sternly; "don't talk like that."
+
+"Now you are beginning to bully me, Bayle," cried the old man
+querulously.  "Don't you turn against me.  I get insults enough at that
+scoundrel Hallam's--enough to make my blood boil."
+
+"Yes, I know, I know," said Bayle.
+
+"And yet, old idiot that I am, I go there for the sake of these women,
+and bear it all--I, whom people call a gentleman, I go there and am
+civil to the scoundrel who robbed me, and put up with his insolence and
+his scowls.  But I'm his master still.  He dare not turn upon me.  I can
+make him quail when I like.  Bayle, old fellow," he cried, with a
+satisfied chuckle, "how the scoundrel would like to give me a dose!"
+
+Bayle sat down with his brow full of the lines of care.
+
+"I'm not like you," continued Sir Gordon, whom the relation of his
+troubles seemed to relieve, "I won't be driven away.  I think you were
+wrong."
+
+"No," said Bayle quietly, "it was causing her pain.  It was plain enough
+that in his sordid mind my presence was a greater injury than yours.  He
+was wearing her life away, and I thought it better that our intimacy
+should grow less and less."
+
+"But, my boy, that's where you were wrong.  Bad as the scoundrel is, he
+could never have had a jealous thought of that saint--there, don't call
+me irreverent--I say it again, that saint of a woman."
+
+"Oh, no, I can't think that myself," said Bayle, "but my presence was a
+standing reproach to him."
+
+"How could it be more than mine?"
+
+"You are different.  He always hated me from the first time we met at
+King's Castor."
+
+"I believe he did," said Sir Gordon warmly; "but see how he detests the
+sight of me."
+
+"Yes, but you expressed the feeling only a few minutes ago when you said
+you were still his master and you made him quail.  My dear old friend,
+if I could ever have indulged in a hope that Robert Hallam had been
+unjustly punished, his behaviour towards you would have swept it away.
+It is always that of the conscience-stricken man--his unreasoning
+dislike of the one whom he has wronged."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Bayle, perhaps you are right.  But there was no
+doubt about his guilt--a scoundrel, and I am as sure as I am that I
+live, the rascal made a hoard somehow, and is living upon it now."
+
+"You think that?  What about the sealing speculation?"
+
+"Ah! he and Crellock have made some money _by_ it, no doubt; but not
+enough to live as they do.  I know that Hallam is spending my money and
+triumphing over me all the time, and I would not care if those women
+were free of him, but I'm afraid that will never be."
+
+Bayle remained silent.
+
+"Do you think she believes in his innocence still?"
+
+Bayle remained silent for a time, and then said slowly: "I believe that
+Millicent Hallam, even if she discovered his guilt, and could at last
+believe in it, would suffer in secret, and bear with him in the hope
+that he would repent."
+
+"And never leave him?"
+
+"Never," aid Bayle firmly, "unless under some terrible provocation, one
+so great that no woman could bear; and from that provocation, and the
+deathblow it would be to her, I pray heaven she may be spared."
+
+"Amen!" said Sir Gordon softly.
+
+"Bayle," he added, after a pause, "I am getting old and irritable; I
+feel every change.  I called you a fool!"
+
+"The irritable spirit of pain within--not you."
+
+"Ah! well," said Sir Gordon, smiling, "you know me by heart now, my dear
+boy.  I want to say something ivery serious to you.  I never said it
+before, though I have thought about it ever since those happy evenings
+we spent at Clerkenwell."
+
+Bayle turned to him wonderingly.
+
+"You will bear with me--I may hurt your feelings."
+
+"If you do I know you will heal them the next time we meet," replied
+Bayle.
+
+"Well, then, tell me this.  When I first began visiting at Mrs Hallam's
+house there in London, had you not the full intention of some day asking
+Julie to be your wife?"
+
+Christie Bayle turned his manly, sincere countenance full upon his old
+friend, and said, in a deep, low voice, broken by emotion:
+
+"Such a thought had never entered my mind."
+
+"Never?"
+
+"Never, on my word as a man."
+
+"You tell me that you have never loved Julie Hallam save as a father
+might love his child?"
+
+Bayle shook his head slowly, and a piteous look came into his eyes.
+
+"No," he said softly, "I cannot."
+
+"Then you do love her?" cried the old man joyfully.  "Now we shall get
+out of the wood.  Why, my dear boy--"
+
+"Hush!" said Bayle sadly, "I first learned what was in my heart when our
+voyage was half over."
+
+"And you saw her chatting with that dandy young officer.  Oh! pooh,
+pooh! that is nothing.  She does not care for him."
+
+Bayle shook his head again.
+
+"Why, my dear boy, you must end all this."
+
+"You forget," said Bayle sadly.  "History is repeating itself.  Remember
+your own affair."
+
+"Ah! but I was an old man; you are young."
+
+"Young!" said Bayle sadly.  "No, I was always her old teacher; and she
+loves this man."
+
+"I cannot think it," cried Sir Gordon, "and what is more, Hallam has
+outrageous plans of his own--look there."
+
+There were the sounds of horses' feet on the newly-made Government road
+that passed the house Sir Gordon had chosen on account of its leading
+down on one side to where lay his lugger, in which he spent half his
+time cruising among the islands, and in fine weather out and along the
+Pacific shore; on the other side to the eastward of the huge billows
+that rolled in with their heavy thunderous roar.
+
+As Bayle looked up, he saw Julia in a plain grey riding habit, mounted
+on a handsome mare, cantering up with a well-dressed, bluff-looking,
+middle-aged man by her side.  He, too, was well mounted, and as Julia
+checked her mare to walk by Sir Gordon's cottage, the man drew rein and
+watched her closely.  She bent forward, scanning the windows anxiously,
+but seeing no one, for the occupants of the room were by the fire as
+they passed on, and Bayle turned to Sir Gordon with an angry look in his
+eyes.
+
+"Oh no!  Impossible!" he exclaimed.
+
+"There's nothing impossible out here in this horrible penal place,"
+cried Sir Gordon, in a voice full of agitation.
+
+"No," said Bayle, whose face cleared, and he smiled; "it is not even
+impossible that my old friend will go on enjoying his cruises about
+these glorious shores, and that the mutiny--Shall I call in Tom Porter?"
+
+"Well, yes; I suppose you must," said Sir Gordon with a grim smile.
+
+Bayle went to the door, and Tom Porter answered the call with an "Ay,
+ay, sir," and came padding over the floor with his bare feet like a
+man-o'-war's-man on a holy-stoned deck.
+
+"Sir Gordon wants to speak to you, Porter," said Bayle, making as if to
+go.
+
+"No, no, Bayle! don't go and leave me with this scoundrelly mutineer.
+He'll murder me.  There, Tom Porter," he continued, "I'm an irritable
+old fool, and I'm very sorry, and I beg your pardon; but you ought to
+know better than to take offence."
+
+Tom Porter, for answer, trotted out of the room to return at the end of
+a few moments with another basin of soup and two slices of toast already
+made.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER TWO.
+
+MRS HALLAM'S SERVANT.
+
+Millicent Hallam had found that all her husband had said was correct.
+There was no difficulty at all in the matter, and few questions were
+asked, for the Government was only too glad to get convicts drafted off
+as assigned servants to all who applied, and so long as no complaints
+were made of their behaviour, the prisoners to whom passes were given
+remained free of the colony.
+
+In many cases they led the lives of slaves to the settlers, and found
+that they had exchanged the rod for the scorpion; but they bore all for
+the sake of the comparative freedom, and even preferred life at some
+up-country station, where a slight offence was punished with the lash,
+to returning to the chain-gang and the prison, or the heavy work of
+making roads.
+
+The cat was the cure for all ills in those days, when almost any one was
+appointed magistrate of his district.  A., the holder of so many
+assigned men, would be a justice, and one of his men would offend.  In
+that case, he would send him over to B., the magistrate of the next
+district.  B. would also be a squatter and holder of assigned convict
+servants.  There would be a short examination; A's man would be well
+flogged and sent back.  In due time B. would require the same service
+performed, and would send an offender over to A. to have him punished in
+turn.
+
+In the growing town, assigned servants were employed in a variety of
+ways; and it was common enough for relatives of the convicts to apply
+and have husband, son, or brother assigned to them, the
+ticket-of-leave-man finding no difficulty there on account of being a
+jail-bird, where many of the most prosperous traders and squatters had
+once worn the prison garb.
+
+Robert Hallam was soon released, and at the end of a very short time
+Stephen Crellock followed; the pair becoming ostensibly butler and
+coachman to a wealthy lady who had settled in Sydney--but servants only
+in the Government books; for, unquestioned, Hallam at once took up his
+position as master of the house, and, to his wife's horror, Crellock,
+directly he was released, came and took possession of the room set apart
+for him as Hallam's oldest friend.
+
+A strange state of society perhaps, but it is a mere matter of history;
+such proceedings were frequent in the days when Botany Bay was the depot
+for the social sinners of our land.
+
+All the same though, poor Botany Bay, with its abundant specimens of
+Austral growth that delighted the naturalists of the early expedition,
+never did become a penal settlement.  It was selected, and the first
+convict-ship went there to form the great prison; but the place was
+unsuitable, and Port Jackson, the site of Sydney, proved so vastly
+superior that the expedition went on there at once.
+
+At home, in England, though, Botany Bay was spoken of always as the
+convicts' home, and the term embraced the whole of the penal
+settlements, including Norfolk Island, that horror of our laws, and Van
+Diemen's Land.
+
+Opportunity had served just after Hallam was released, and had taken up
+his residence in simple lodgings which Mrs Hallam, with Bayle's help,
+had secured, for one of the best villas that had been built in the
+place--an attractive wooden bungalow, with broad verandahs and lovely
+garden sloping down towards the harbour--was to let.
+
+Millicent Hallam had looked at her husband in alarm when he bade her
+take it; but he placed the money laughingly in her hands for furnishing;
+and, obeying him as if in a dream, the house was taken and handsomely
+fitted.  Servants were engaged, horses bought, and the convicts
+commenced a life of luxurious ease.
+
+The sealing business, he said with a laugh, was only carried on at
+certain times of the year, but it was a most paying affair, and he bade
+Mrs Hallam have no care about money matters.
+
+For the first six months Hallam rarely stirred out of the house by day,
+contenting himself with a walk about the extensive grounds in an
+evening; but he made up for this abstinence from society by pampering
+his appetites in every way.
+
+It was as if, these having been kept in strict subjection for so many
+years, he was now determined to give them full rein; and, consequently,
+he who had been summoned at early morn by the prison bell, breakfasted
+luxuriously in bed, and did not rise till midday, when his first
+question was about the preparations for dinner--that being the important
+business of his life.
+
+His dinner was a feast at which good wine in sufficient abundance played
+a part, and over this he and Crellock would sit for hours, only to leave
+it and the dining-room for spirits and cigars in the verandah, where
+they stayed till bed-time.
+
+Robert Hallam came into the house a pallid, wasted man, with sunken
+cheeks and eyes, closely-cropped hair and shorn beard; the villainous
+prison look was in his gaze and the furtive shrinking way of his stoop.
+His aspect was so horrible that when Millicent Hallam took him to her
+breast, she prayed for mental blindness that she might not see the
+change, while Julia's eyes were always full of a wondering horror that
+she was ever fighting to suppress.
+
+At the end of four months, Robert Hallam was completely transformed; his
+cheeks were filled out, and were rapidly assuming the flushed appearance
+of the habitual drunkard's; his eyes had lost their cavernous aspect,
+and half the lines had disappeared, while his grizzled hair was of a
+respectable length, and his face was becoming clothed by a great black
+beard dashed with grey.
+
+In six months, portly, florid and well-dressed, he was unrecognisable
+for the man who had been released from the great prison, and no longer
+confined himself to the house.
+
+Stephen Crellock had changed in a more marked manner than his prison
+friend.  Considerably his junior, the convict life had not seemed to
+affect him, so that when six months of his freedom had passed, he looked
+the bluff, bearded squatter in the full pride of his manhood, bronzed by
+the sun, and with a dash and freedom of manner that he knew how to
+restrain when he was in the presence of his old companion's wife and
+child, for he could not conceal from himself the fact that Mrs Hallam
+disliked his presence and resented his being there.
+
+At first, in her eagerness to respond to Hallam's slightest wish, in the
+proud joy she felt in the change that was coming over his personal
+appearance, and which with the boastfulness of a young wife she pointed
+out to Julia, she made no objection to Crellock's presence.
+
+"Poor fellow! he has suffered horribly," Hallam said.  "He deserves a
+holiday."
+
+How she had watched all this gradual change, and how she crushed down
+the little voices that now and then strove in her heart to make
+themselves heard!
+
+"No, no, no," she said to them as it were half laughing, "there is
+nothing but what I ought to have pictured."
+
+Then one day she found herself forced to make apology to Julia.
+
+"You have hurt him, my darling, by your coldness," she said tenderly.
+"Julie, my own, he complains to me.  What have you done?"
+
+"Tried, dear mother--oh, so hard.  I did not know I had been cold."
+
+"Then you will try more, my child," said Mrs Hallam, caressing Julia
+tenderly, and with a bright, loving look in her eyes.  "I have never
+spoken like this before.  It seemed terrible to me to have to make what
+seems like an apology for our own, but think, dearest.  He parted from
+us a gentleman--to be taken from his home and plunged into a life of
+horror, such as--no, no, no," she cried, "I will not speak of it.  I
+will only say that just as his face will change, so will all that
+terrible corrosion of the prison life in his manner drop away, and in a
+few months he will be again all that you have pictured.  Julie, he is
+your father."
+
+Julia flung herself, sobbing passionately, into her mother's arms, and
+in a burst of self-reproach vowed that she would do everything to make
+her father love her as she did him.
+
+Bravely did the two women set themselves to the task of blinding their
+eyes with love, passing over the coarse actions and speech of the idol
+they had set up, yielding eagerly to his slightest whim, obeying every
+caprice, and, while at times something was almost too hard to bear,
+Millicent Hallam whispered encouragement to her child.
+
+"Think, my own, think," she said lovingly.  "It is not his fault.  Think
+of what he has suffered, and let us pray and thank Him that he has
+survived, for us to win back to all that we could wish."
+
+There were times when despair looked blankly from Millicent Hallam's
+eyes as she saw the months glide by and her husband surely and slowly
+sinking into sensuality.  But she roused herself to greater exertions,
+and was his veriest slave.  Once only did she try by kindly resistance
+to make the stand she told herself she should have made when Crellock
+was first brought into the house.
+
+It was when he had been out about six months, and Crellock, after a long
+debauch with Hallam and two or three chosen spirits from the town, had
+sunk in a brutal sleep upon the floor of the handsomely-furnished
+dining-room.  The visitors had gone; they had dined there, Sir Gordon
+being of the party, and Mrs Hallam had smilingly done the honours of
+the table as their hostess, though sick at heart at the turn the
+conversation had taken before her child, who looked anxious and pale,
+while Sir Gordon had sat there very silent and grim of aspect.  He had
+been the first to go, and had taken her hand in the drawing-room, as if
+about to speak, but had only looked at her, sighed, and gone away
+without a word.
+
+"I must speak!" she had said.  "Heaven help me!  I must speak!  This
+cannot go on!"
+
+As soon as she could, she had hurried Julia to bed, and then sat and
+waited till the last visitor had gone, when she walked into the
+dining-room, where Hallam sat smoking, _heavy_ with drink, but perfectly
+collected, scowling down at Crellock where he lay.
+
+That look sent a thrill of joy through Millicent Hallam.  He was
+evidently angry with Crellock, and disgusted with the wretched drinking
+scene that had taken place--one of many such scenes as would have
+excited comment now, but the early settlers were ready enough to smile
+at eccentricities like this.
+
+"Robert--my husband! may I speak to you?"
+
+"Speak, my dear?  Of course," he said, smiling.  "Why didn't you come in
+as soon as that old curmudgeon had gone?  Have a glass of wine now.
+Nonsense!--I wish it.  You must pitch over a lot of that
+standoffish-ness with my friends.  Julia, too--the girl sits and looks
+at people as glum as if she had no sense."  Mrs Hallam compressed her
+lips, laid her hand upon her husband's shoulder, yielding herself to him
+as he threw an arm round her waist, but stood pointing to where Crellock
+lay breathing stertorously, and every now and then muttering in his
+sleep.
+
+"What are you pointing at?" said Hallam.  "Steve?  Yes, the pig!  Why
+can't he take his wine like a gentleman, and not like a brute?"
+
+"Robert, dear," she said tenderly, "you love me very dearly?"
+
+"Love you, my pet! why, how could a man love wife better?"
+
+"And our Julia--our child?"
+
+"Why, of course.  What questions!"
+
+"Will you do something to please me--to please us both?"
+
+"Will I?  Say what you want--another carriage--diamonds--a yacht like
+old Bourne's?"
+
+"No, no, no, dearest; we have everything if we have your love, and my
+dear husband glides from the past misery into a life of happiness."
+
+"Well, I think we are doing pretty well," he said with a laugh that sent
+a shudder through the suffering woman; he was so changed.
+
+"I want to speak to you about Mr Crellock."
+
+"Well, what about him?  Make haste; it's getting late, and I'm tired."
+
+"Robert, we have made a mistake in having this man here."
+
+Hallam seemed perfectly sober, and he frowned.
+
+"_I_ would not mind if you wished him to be here, love," she said, with
+her voice sounding sweetly pure and entreating; "but he is not a
+suitable companion for our Julia."
+
+"Stop there," said Hallam, sharply.
+
+"No, no, darling; let me speak--this time," said Mrs Hallam,
+entreatingly.  "I know it was out of the genuine goodness and pity of
+your heart that you opened your door to him.  Now you have done all you
+need, let him go."
+
+Hallam shook his head.
+
+"Think of the past, and the terrible troubles he brought upon you."
+
+"Oh, no! that was all a mistake," said Hallam, quickly.  "Poor brute! he
+was as ill-treated as I was, and now you want him kicked out."
+
+"No, no, dear; part from him kindly; but he was the cause of much of
+your suffering."
+
+"No, he was not," said Hallam, quickly.  "That was all a mistake.  Poor
+Steve was always a good friend to me.  He suffered along with me in that
+cursed hole, and he shall have his share of the comfort now."
+
+"No, no, do not say you wish him to stay."
+
+"But I do say it," cried Hallam, angrily.  "He is my best friend, and he
+will stay.  Hang it, woman, am I to be cursed with the presence of your
+friends who sent me out here and not have the company of my own?"
+
+"Robert!--husband!--don't speak to me like that."
+
+"But I do speak to you like that.  Here is that wretched old yachtsman
+forcing his company upon me day after day, insisting upon coming to the
+house, and reminding me by his presence who I am, and what I have been."
+
+"Darling, Sir Gordon ignores the past, and is grieved, I know, at the
+terrible mistake that brought you here.  He wishes to show you this by
+his kindness to us all."
+
+"Let him keep his kindness till it is asked for," growled Hallam.  "He
+sits upon me like a nightmare.  I don't feel that the place is my own
+when he is here.  As for Bayle, he has had the good sense to stay away
+lately."
+
+Mrs Hallam's eyes were full of despair as she listened.
+
+"I hate Sir Gordon coming here.  He and Bayle have between them made
+that girl despise me, and look down upon me every time we speak, while I
+am lavishing money upon her, and she has horses and carriage, jewels and
+dress equal to any girl in the colony."
+
+"Robert, dear, you are not saying all this from your heart."
+
+"Indeed, but I am," he cried angrily.
+
+"No, no!  And Julie--she loves you dearly.  It is for her sake I ask
+this," and she pointed to Crellock where he lay.
+
+"Let sleeping dogs lie," said Hallam, with a meaning laugh.  "Poor
+Steve!  I don't like him, but he has been a faithful mate to me, and I'm
+not going to turn round upon him now."
+
+"But for Julie's sake!"
+
+"I'm thinking about Julie, my dear," he said, nodding his head; "and as
+for Steve--there, just you make yourself comfortable about him.  There's
+no harm in him; he is faithful as a dog to me, and if I behaved badly he
+might bite."
+
+"You need not be unkind to Mr Crellock if he has been what you say.  I
+only ask you for our child's sake to let him leave here."
+
+"Impossible; he is my partner."
+
+"Yes, you intimated that.  In your business."
+
+"Speculations," said Hallam quietly.  "There, that will do."
+
+"But, Robert--"
+
+"That will do!" he roared fiercely.  "Stephen Crellock must live here!
+Do you hear--_must_!  Now _go_ to bed."
+
+"A woman's duty," she whispered softly, "is to obey," and she obeyed.
+
+She obeyed, while another six months glided away, each month filling her
+heart more and more with despair as she shunned her child's questioning
+eyes and fought on, a harder battle every day, to keep herself in the
+belief that the pure gold was still beneath the blackening tarnish, and
+that her idol was not made of clay.
+
+It was a terrible battle, for her eyes refused to be blinded longer by
+the loving veil she cast over them.  The appealing, half-wondering looks
+of her child increased her suffering, while an idea, that filled her
+with horror, was growing day by day, till it was assuming proportions
+from which she shrank in dread.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER THREE.
+
+OUR JULIA'S LOVER.
+
+"What have we done, wifie, that we should be consigned to such quarters
+as these?" said Captain Otway one day with a sigh.  "I don't think I'm
+too particular, but when I entered His Majesty's service I did not know
+that I should be expected to play gaoler to the occupants of the
+Government Pandemonium."
+
+"It is a beautiful place," said Mrs Otway laconically.  "It was till we
+came and spoiled it.  It is one great horror, 'pon my soul; and it is
+degrading our men to set them such duty as this."
+
+"Be patient.  These troubles cure themselves."
+
+"But they take such a long time over it," said the Captain.  "It would
+be more bearable if Phil had not turned goose."
+
+"Poor Phil!" said Mrs Otway, with a sigh.
+
+"Poor Phil?  Pooh! you spoil the lad!  I can't get him out for a bit of
+shooting or hunting or fishing.  Old Sir Gordon would often give us a
+cruise in his boat, but no: Phil must sit moonstruck here.  The fellow's
+spoiled!  Can't you knock all that on the head?"
+
+"I perhaps could, but it must be a matter of time," said Mrs Otway,
+going steadily on with her work, and mending certain articles of attire.
+
+"But he must be cured.  It is impossible."
+
+"Yes," sighed Mrs Otway, "so I tell him.  I wish it were not."
+
+"My dear Mary--a convict's daughter!"
+
+"The poor girl was not consulted as to whose daughter she would like to
+be, Jack, and she is, without exception, the sweetest lassie I ever
+met."
+
+"Yes, she is nice," said Otway.  "Mother must have been nice too."
+
+"_Is_ nice," cried Mrs Otway, flushing.  "I felt a little distant with
+her at first, but after what I have seen and know--by George, Jack, I do
+feel proud of our sex!"
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the Captain, with a smile at his wife's bluff
+earnestness.  "Yes, she's a good woman; very ladylike, too.  But that
+husband, that friend of his, Crellock!  Poor creatures! it is ruining
+them."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Otway dryly.  "That's one of the misfortunes of
+marriage; we poor women are dragged down to the level of our husbands."
+
+"And when these husbands come out to convict settlements as gaolers they
+have to come with them, put up with all kinds of society, give up all
+their refinements, and make and mend their own dresses, and--"
+
+"Even do their own chores, as the Americans call it," said Mrs Otway,
+looking up smiling.  "It makes me look very miserable, doesn't it,
+Jack?"
+
+She stopped her work, went behind her husband's chair, put her arms
+round his neck, and laid her cheek upon his head.
+
+Neither spoke for a few minutes, but the Captain looked very contented
+and happy, and neither of them heard the step as Bayle came through the
+house, and out suddenly into the verandah.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" he cried, drawing back.
+
+"Ah, parson!  Don't go!" cried the Captain, as Mrs Otway started up,
+and, in spite of her ordinary aplomb, looked disturbed.  "Bad habit of
+ours acquired since marriage.  We don't mind you."
+
+Mrs Otway held out her hand to their visitor.
+
+"Why, it is nearly a fortnight since you have been to see us.  We were
+just talking about your friends--the Hallams."
+
+"Have you been to see them lately?" said Bayle, eagerly.
+
+"I was there yesterday.  Quite well; but Mrs Hallam looks worried and
+ill.  Julia is charming, only she too is not as I should like to see
+her."
+
+She watched Bayle keenly, and saw his countenance change as she spoke.
+
+"I am very glad they are well," he said.
+
+"Yes, I know you are; but why don't you go more often?"
+
+He looked at her rather wistfully, and made no reply.  "Look here, Mr
+Bayle," she said, "I don't think you mind my speaking plainly, now do
+you?  Come, that's frank."
+
+"I will be just as frank," he replied, smiling.  "I have always liked
+you because you do speak so plainly."
+
+"That's kind of you to say so," she replied.  "Well, I will speak out.
+You see there are so few women in the colony."
+
+"Who are ladies," said Bayle quietly.
+
+"Look here," said Otway, in a much ill-used tone, "am I expected to sit
+here and listen to my wife putting herself under the influence of the
+Church?"
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Jack!" said Mrs Otway sharply.  "This is
+serious."
+
+"I'm dumb."
+
+"What I want to say, Mr Bayle, is this.  Don't you think you are making
+a mistake in staying away from your friends yonder?"
+
+He sat without replying for some minutes.
+
+"No," he said slowly.  "I did not give up my visits there till after I
+had weighed the matter very carefully."
+
+"But you seemed to come out with those two ladies as their guardian, and
+now, when they seem most to require your help and guidance, you leave
+them."
+
+"Have you heard anything?  Is anything wrong?"
+
+"I have heard nothing, but I have seen a great deal, because I persist
+in visiting, in spite of Mr Hallam's objection to my presence."
+
+"I say, my dear, that man is always civil to you, I hope?" cried Otway
+sharply.
+
+"My dear Jack, be quiet," said Mrs Otway.  "Of course he is.  I visit
+there because I have good reasons for so doing."
+
+"Tell me," said Bayle anxiously.
+
+"I have seen a great deal," continued Mrs Otway: "but it all comes to
+one point."  Bayle looked at her inquiringly.  "That it is very dreadful
+for those two sweet, delicate women to have come out here to such a
+fate.  The man is dreadful!"
+
+"They will redeem him," said Bayle huskily.  "Poor wretch! he has had a
+terrible experience.  This convict life is worse than capital
+punishment.  We must be patient, Mrs Otway.  The habits of a number of
+years are not got rid of in a few months.  He will change."
+
+"Will he?" said Mrs Otway shortly.
+
+"Yes; they will, as I said before, redeem him.  The man has great
+natural love for his wife and child."
+
+"Do you think this?"
+
+"Yes, yes!" he cried excitedly, as he got up and began to pace the
+verandah.  "I stop away because my presence was like a standing reproach
+to him.  The abstinence gives me intense pain, but my going tended to
+make them unhappy, and caused constraint, so I stop away."
+
+"And so you think that they will raise him to their standard, do you?"
+said Mrs Otway dryly.
+
+"Yes, I do," he cried fervently.  "It is only a matter of time."
+
+"How can you be so self-deceiving?" she cried quickly.  "He is dragging
+them down to his level."
+
+"Oh, hush!" cried Bayle passionately.  Then mastering his emotion, he
+continued in his old, firm, quiet way: "No, no; you must not say that.
+He could not.  It is impossible."
+
+"Yes.  You are wrong there, Bel," said the Captain.  "Mrs Hallam is
+made of too good stuff."
+
+"I give in," said Mrs Otway, nodding.  "Yes, you two are right.  He
+could not bring that sweet woman down to his level; but all this is very
+terrible.  The man is giving himself up to a life of sensuality.
+Drinking and feasting with that companion of his.  There is gambling
+going on too at night with friends of his own stamp.  What a life this
+is for a refined lady and her child!"
+
+Bayle spoke calmly, but he wiped the great drops of sweat from his brow.
+
+"What can I do?" he said.  "I am perfectly helpless."
+
+"I confess I don't know," said Mrs Otway, with a sigh.  "Only you and
+Sir Gordon must be at hand to help them in any emergency."
+
+"Emergency!  What do you mean?" anxiously.
+
+"_I_ don't know what may occur.  Who knows?  Women are so weak," sighed
+Mrs Otway; "once they place their faith in a man, they follow him to
+the end of the world."
+
+"That's true, Bayle, old fellow--to convict stations, and become
+slaves," said the Captain.
+
+"Mr Bayle," said Mrs Otway suddenly.  "I am under a promise to my old
+friend, Lady Eaton, and I have done my best to oppose it all; but you
+have seen how deeply attached Phil Eaton has become to Miss Hallam?"
+
+"Yes," said Bayle slowly, and he was very pale now, "I have seen it."
+
+"He shall not marry her if I can prevent it, much as I love the girl,
+for it would be a terrible _mesalliance_; but he is desperately fond of
+her, and, as my husband here says, he has taken the bit in his teeth,
+and he will probably travel his own way."
+
+"Don't you get fathering your coarse expressions on me," growled the
+Captain; but no one heeded him.
+
+"As I say, he shall not marry her if I can stop it; but suppose he
+should be determined, and could get the father's consent, would you and
+Sir Gordon raise any opposition?"
+
+"Lieutenant Eaton is an officer and a gentleman."
+
+"He is a true-hearted lad, Mr Bayle, and I love him dearly," said Mrs
+Otway.  "Only that he is fighting hard between love and duty he would
+have been carrying on the campaign by now; but you must allow Fort
+Robert Hallam is a terrible one to storm and garrison afterwards, for it
+has to be retained for life."
+
+"I understand your meaning," said Bayle, speaking very slowly.  "It is a
+terrible position for Mr Eaton to be in."
+
+"Should you oppose it?"
+
+"I have no authority whatever," said Bayle in the same low, dreamy tone.
+"If I had, I should never dream of opposing anything that was for Miss
+Hallam's good."
+
+"And it would be, to get her away from such associations, Mr Bayle."
+
+"Lady Eaton!  Lady Eaton!" said the Captain in warning.
+
+"Hush, Jack! pray."
+
+"Yes," said Bayle; "it would be for Miss Hallam's benefit; but it would
+nearly break her mother's heart."
+
+"She would have to make a sacrifice for the sake of the child."
+
+"Yes," said Bayle softly.  "Another sacrifice;" and then softly to
+himself, "how long? how long?"
+
+He rose, and was gravely bidding his friends good-bye, when a sharp,
+quick step was heard, and Eaton came in, coloured like a girl on seeing
+Bayle, hesitated, and then held out his hand.
+
+Bayle shook it warmly and left the verandah, Eaton walking with him to
+the gate.
+
+"Jack," said Mrs Otway softly, "it's my belief that the parson loves
+Julia Hallam himself."
+
+"You think so?"
+
+"I'm sure of it."
+
+"And will he marry her?"
+
+"No.  I'm about sure that she is desperately fond of our boy, and the
+parson is too true a man to stand in the way."
+
+"Nonsense!" said the Captain.  "Such men are not made now."
+
+"But they were when Christie Bayle was born," she said, nodding her head
+quickly.  "Yes," she said, after a pause, as they heard Eaton's
+returning steps; "it's a knot, Jack."
+
+"Humph!" he replied.  "For time to untie."
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+STEPHEN CRELLOCK IS COMMUNICATIVE.
+
+"No hurry, Steve, my lad," said Hallam, as he turned over the newspaper
+that had come in by the last mail, and threw one of his booted legs upon
+a chair.
+
+Crellock was leaning against the chimney-piece of the room Hallam called
+his study; but one, which in place of books was filled with fishing and
+shooting gear, saddles, bridles, and hunting whips, from that usually
+adopted for riding, to the heavy implement so terrible in a stockman's
+hands.
+
+The man had completely lost all his old prison look; and the obedient,
+servile manner that distinguished him, when, years before, he had been
+Hallam's willing tool in iniquity, had gone.  He had developed into a
+sturdy, independent, restless being, with whom it would be dangerous to
+trifle, and Robert Hallam had felt for some time that he really was
+master no longer.
+
+Crellock had dressed himself evidently for a ride.  He was booted and
+spurred; wore tightly-fitting breeches and jacket, and a broad-brimmed
+felt hat was thrust back on his curly hair, as he stood beating his boot
+with his riding-whip, and tucking bits of his crisp beard between his
+white teeth to bite.
+
+"What do you say?  No hurry?"
+
+"Yes," said Hallam, rustling his paper.  "No hurry, my lad: plenty of
+time."
+
+"You think so, do you?"
+
+"To be sure.  There, go and have your ride.  I've got some fresh
+champagne just come in by the _Cross_.  We'll try that to-day."
+
+"Hang your champagne!  I've come to talk business," said Crellock,
+sternly.  "You think there's no hurry, do you?  Well, look here, I think
+there is, and I'm not going to wait."
+
+"Nonsense!  Don't talk like a boy."
+
+"No: I'll talk like a man, Robert Hallam.  A man don't improve by
+keeping.  I shall do now; by-and-by perhaps I shan't.  I'm double her
+age and more."
+
+"Oh! yes, I know all about that," said Hallam, impatiently; "but there's
+plenty of time."
+
+"I say there is not, and I'm going to have it settled.  Your wife hates
+me.  I'm not blind, and she'll set Julie against me all she can."
+
+"I'm master here."
+
+"Then show it, Rob Hallam, and quickly, before there's a row.  I tell
+you it wants doing; she's easily led now she's so young; but I'm not
+blind."
+
+"You said that before; what do you mean?"
+
+"That soldier Eaton; he's hankering after her, and if we don't mind,
+she'll listen to him.  It's only your being an old hand that keeps him
+back from asking for her."
+
+"Well, well, let it go, and I'll see about it by-and-by," said Hallam.
+"Have patience."
+
+"A man at my time of life can't have patience, Rob.  Now come, you know
+I want the girl, and it will be like tying us more tightly together."
+
+"And put a stop to the risk of your telling tales," said Hallam,
+bitterly.
+
+"I'm not the man to tell tales," said Crellock, sturdily, "neither am I
+the man for you to make an enemy."
+
+"Threatening?"
+
+"No, but I'm sure you wouldn't care to go back to the gang and on the
+road, Robert Hallam.  Such a good man as your wife and child think you
+are!"
+
+"Hold your tongue, will you?" cried Hallam savagely.
+
+"When I please," replied Crellock.  "Oh! come, you needn't look so
+fierce, old chap.  I used to think what a wonder you were, and wish I
+could be as cool and clever, and--"
+
+"Well?" for the other stopped.
+
+"Oh! nothing; only I don't think so now."
+
+"Look here," said Hallam, throwing aside the paper impatiently, "what do
+you want?"
+
+"Julia."
+
+"You mean you want to try if she'll listen to you."
+
+"No, I don't.  I mean I want her, and I mean to have her, and half
+share."
+
+"And if I say it's impossible?"
+
+"But you won't," said Crellock coolly.
+
+Hallam sat back, frowning and biting his nails, while the other slowly
+beat his boot with his whip.
+
+At last Hallam's brow cleared, and he said in a quiet, easy way:
+
+"She might do better, Steve; but I won't stand in your way.  Only the
+thing must come about gently.  Talk to the girl.  You shall have
+chances.  I don't want any scenes with her or her mother, or any flying
+to that old man or the parson to help her.  It must be worked quietly."
+
+"All right.  Order the horses round, and let her go for a ride with me
+this morning."
+
+Mrs Hallam was ready to object, but she gave way, and Julia went for a
+ride with Crellock, passing Sir Gordon's cottage, and then riding right
+away into the open country.  The girl had developed into a splendid
+horsewoman, and at last, when she had forgotten her dislike to her
+companion in the excitement and pleasure of the exercise, and the horses
+were well breathed and walking up an ascent, Crellock, on the principle
+that he had no time to spare, tried to forward his position.
+
+"I say, Miss Julia," he said, taking off his broad hat, and fanning his
+face, as they rode on in the bright sunshine, "do you remember when you
+first came over?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"And meeting me as I was carried out of the prison on the stretcher?"
+
+Julia looked at him, her eyes dilating with horror as the whole scene
+came back.
+
+"Don't," she said hoarsely, "it is too horrible to think of?  Such
+cruelty is dreadful."
+
+"I don't consider it too horrible to think of," he said smiling.  "I'm
+always looking back on that day and seeing it all, every bit.  That poor
+wretch shrieking out with pain."
+
+"Mr Crellock!" cried Julia.
+
+"Yes! me.  Not hardly able to move himself, or bear his pain, and half
+mad with thirst."
+
+"Oh, pray, hush!"
+
+"Not I, my dear," continued Crellock, "and out of it all I can see
+coming through the sunshine a bright angel to hold water up to my lips,
+and wipe the sweat of agony off my brow."
+
+"Mr Crellock!  I cannot bear to listen to all this."
+
+"But you could bear to look at it all, and do it, bless you!" said the
+man warmly.  "That day I swore something, and I'm going to keep my
+oath."
+
+"Don't talk about it any more, please," said Julia imploringly.
+
+"If you don't wish me to, I won't," said Crellock smiling.  "I do want
+to talk to you though about a lot of things, and one is about the
+drink."
+
+Julia looked at him wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, about the drink," continued Crellock; "the old man drinks too
+much."
+
+Julia's face contracted.
+
+"And I've been a regular brute lately, my dear.  You see it has been
+such a temptation after being kept from it for years.  I haven't been
+able to stop myself.  It isn't nice for a young girl like you to see a
+man drunk, is it?"
+
+Julia shook her head.
+
+"Then I shan't never get drunk again.  I'll only take a little."
+
+"Oh!  I am so glad," cried Julia with girlish eagerness.
+
+"Are you?" he said smiling, "then so am I.  That's settled then.  I want
+to be as decent as I can.  You see you're such a good religious girl,
+Miss Julia, while I'm such a bad one."
+
+"But you could be better."
+
+"Could I?  I don't like being a hypocrite.  I'm not ashamed to own that
+I was a bad one, and got into all that trouble in the old country."
+
+"Oh! hush, please.  You did wrong, and were punished for it.  Now all
+that is passed and forgiven."
+
+"I always said you were an angel," said Crellock earnestly, "and you
+are."
+
+"Nonsense!  Let us talk of something else."
+
+"No: let's talk about that.  I want to stand fair and square with you,
+and I don't want you to think me a humbug and a hypocrite."
+
+"Mr Crellock, I never thought so well of you before," said Julia
+warmly.  "Your promise of amendment has made me feel so happy."
+
+"Has it?" he cried eagerly, but with a rough kind of respect mingled
+with his admiration.  "So it has me.  I mean it--that I do.  You shall
+never see me the worse for drink again."
+
+"And you will attend more to the business, then?"
+
+"What business?" he said.
+
+"The business that you and my father carry on."
+
+"The business that I and your father carry on?"
+
+"Yes, the speculations about the seals and the oil."
+
+Crellock stared at her.  "Why, what have you got in your pretty little
+head?" he said at last.
+
+"I only alluded to the business in which you and my father are
+partners."
+
+"Pooh!" cried Crellock, with a sort of laugh.  "What nonsense it is of
+him!  Why, my dear, you are not a child now.  After all the trouble you
+and your mother went through.  You are a clever, thoughtful little
+woman, and he ought to have taken you into his confidence."
+
+"What do you mean?" cried Julia, for she felt dazed.
+
+"Your father!  What's the use of a man like him--an old hand--setting
+himself up as a saint, and playing innocent?  It isn't my way.  As you
+say, when one has done wrong and suffered punishment, and is
+whitewashed--"
+
+"Mr Crellock," said Julia, flushing, "I cannot misunderstand your
+allusions; but if you dare to insinuate that my poor father was guilty
+of any wrong-doing before he suffered, it is disgraceful, and it is not
+true."
+
+Crellock looked at her admiringly.
+
+"Bless you!" he said warmly.  "I didn't think you had so much spirit in
+you.  Now be calm, my dear; there's nothing worse than being a sham--a
+hypocrite.  I never was.  I always owned up to what I had done.  Your
+father never did."
+
+"My father never did anything wrong!" cried Julia.
+
+Crellock smiled.
+
+"Come, I should like us to begin by being well in each other's
+confidence," he said as he leaned over and patted the arching neck of
+Julia's mare.  "You must know it, so what's the use of making a pretence
+about it to me?"
+
+"I do not understand you," said Julia indignantly.
+
+"Not understand me?  Why, my dear girl, you know your father was
+transported for life?"
+
+"Do I know it?" cried Julia, with an indignant flash of her eyes.
+
+"Yes, of course you do.  Well, what was it for?"
+
+"Because appearances were cruelly against him," cried Julia.
+
+"They were," said Crellock dryly.
+
+"Because his friends doubted him, consequent upon the conduct of a man
+he trusted," said Julia bitterly.
+
+"I never knew your father trust any one, Miss Julia, and I knew him
+before he went to King's Castor.  We were clerks in the same office."
+
+"He trusted you," cried Julia indignantly; "and you deceived him, and he
+suffered for your wicked sin."
+
+She struck the mare with her whip, and it would have dashed off, but
+Crellock was smoothing her mane above the reins, and as they tightened
+they came into his hand, and he checked the little animal which began to
+rear.
+
+"Quiet! quiet!" cried Crellock fiercely; and he held the mare back with
+ears twitching and nostril quivering.
+
+"Let my rein go," cried Julia.
+
+"Wait a bit; I've a lot to say to you yet, my dear," cried Crellock
+indignantly.  "Look here.  Did your father say that?"
+
+"Yes; and you know it is true."
+
+"I say again, did your father say that to your mother?"
+
+"Yes," indignantly.
+
+"Then that's why she has always shown me such a stiff upper lip, and
+been so bitter against me.  I wouldn't have stopped in her house a day,
+she was so hard on me, only I wanted to be near you, and to think about
+that day coming out of the prison.  Well, of all the mean, cowardly
+things for a man to do!"
+
+"My father is no coward.  You dare not speak to him like that."
+
+"I dare say a deal more to him, and I will if he runs me down before you
+and your mother, when I wanted to show you I wasn't such a bad one after
+all.  It's mean," he cried, working himself up.  "It's cowardly.  But
+it's just like him.  When that robbery took place before, he escaped and
+I took the blame."
+
+"Loose my rein!" cried Julia.  "Man, you are mad."
+
+"See here," cried Crellock, catching her arm, and looking white with
+rage.  "I'll take my part; but I'm not going to have the credit of the
+Dixons' business put on to my shoulders.  I'm not a hypocrite, Miss
+Julia.  I've done wrong, as I said before, and was punished.  There,
+it's of no use for you to struggle.  I mean you to hear.  I want to
+stand well with you.  I always did after you gave me that drink of
+water, and now I find I've been made out to be a regular bad one, so as
+some one else may get off."
+
+"Will you loose my rein?" cried Julia.
+
+"No, I won't.  Now you are going to call out for help?"
+
+"No," cried Julia.  "I'm not such a coward as to be afraid of you."
+
+"That you are not," he said admiringly, in spite of the passion he was
+in.  "Now once more tell me this.  I'll believe you.  You never told a
+lie, and you never would.  Is this a sham to back up your father?"
+
+She did not answer, only gave him a haughtily indignant look.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me you don't know that your father did all that
+Dixons' business himself?"
+
+"I know it is false."
+
+"And that I only did what he told me, and planted the deeds at the
+different banks?"
+
+"It is false, I tell you."
+
+"You're making me savage," he cried in his blundering way.  "I tell you
+I'm not such a brute.  Look here once more.  Do you mean to tell me that
+you don't know that we have all been living on what he--your father--got
+from Dixons' bank?"
+
+"How dare you!" cried Julia, scarlet with anger.
+
+"And that you and your mother brought over the plunder when you came?"
+
+For answer, Julia struck his hand with her whip, giving so keen a cut
+that he loosened his hold, and she went off like the wind towards home.
+
+"What a fool I was to talk like that!" he cried biting his lips, as he
+set spurs to his horse and galloped off in pursuit.  "I've been talking
+like a madman.  It all comes of being regularly in love."
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+"YOU ARE MY WIFE."
+
+Stephen Crellock was fifty yards behind, with his horse completely
+blown, when Julia quickly slipped from her saddle, threw the rein over
+the hook at the door-post, and ran upstairs to the room where her mother
+loved to sit gazing over the beauties of the cove-marked estuary.
+
+Mrs Hallam started up in alarm, and she had evidently been weeping.
+
+"What is it, my child?" she cried, as Julia threw herself sobbing in her
+arms.
+
+"That man--that man!" cried Julia.  "Has he dared to insult you?" cried
+Mrs Hallam, with her eyes flashing, and her motherly indignation giving
+her the mien of an outraged queen.
+
+"Yes--you--my father," sobbed Julia; and in broken words she panted out
+the story of the ride.
+
+Mrs Hallam had been indignant, and a strange shiver of horror had
+passed through her, as it seemed as she listened that she was going to
+hear in form of words the dread that had been growing in her mind for a
+long time past.
+
+It was then at first with a sense of relief that she gathered from her
+child's incoherent statement that Crellock had uttered few words of
+love.  When, however, she thoroughly realised what had passed, and the
+charge that Crellock had made, it came with such a shock in its
+possibility, that her brain reeled.
+
+"It is not true," she cried, recovering herself quickly.  "Julia, it is
+as false as the man who made it."
+
+"I knew--I knew it was, dear mother," sobbed Julia.  "My father shall
+drive him from the house."
+
+"Stay here," said Mrs Hallam sternly.  Then, more gently, "My child,
+you are flushed, and hot.  There, there! we have been so happy lately.
+We must not let a petty accusation like this disturb us."
+
+"So happy, mother," cried Julia piteously, "when our friends forsake us;
+and Mr Bayle is as good as forbidden the house?"
+
+"Hush, my darling?" said Mrs Hallam agitatedly.  "There, go to your
+room."
+
+She hurried Julia away, for she heard the trampling of the horses' feet
+as they were led round to the stables, and then a familiar step upon the
+stairs.
+
+"I was coming to speak to you," she said as Hallam opened the door.
+
+"And I was coming to you," he said roughly.  "What has that little idiot
+been saying to Crellock to put him in such a rage?"
+
+"Sit down," she said, pushing a chair towards him, and there was a look
+in her eyes he had never seen before.
+
+"Well, there.  Now be sharp.  I don't care to be bothered with trifles;
+I've had troubles enough.  Has that champagne been put to cool?"
+
+She looked, half wonderingly, in the heavy, sensual face, growing daily
+more flushed and changed.
+
+"Come, go on," he said, as if the look troubled him.  "Now, then, what
+is it?  Crellock is half mad.  She has offended him horribly."
+
+"She has been defending her father's honour," said Mrs Hallam slowly.
+
+"Defending my honour?" he said, smiling.  "Ah!"  Mrs Hallam clasped her
+hands, and a sigh full of the agony of her heart escaped her lips.  The
+scales seemed to be falling from her eyes, but she wilfully closed them
+again in her passion of love and trust.
+
+But it was in vain.  Something seemed to be tearing these scales away--
+something seemed to be rending that thick veil of love, and the voices
+she had so long quelled were clamouring to be heard, and making her ears
+sing with the terrible tale they told.
+
+She writhed in spirit.  She denied it all as a calumny, but as she
+walked to and fro there the tiny voices in her soul seemed to be ringing
+out the destruction of her idol, and to her swimming eyes it seemed
+tottering to its fall.
+
+"You are very strange," he said roughly.  "What's the matter?  I thought
+you were going to tell me about Julia and Steve."
+
+"I am," she cried at last, as if mastering herself after some terrible
+spasm.  "Robert, I have been told something to-day that makes me
+tremble."
+
+"Some news?" he said coolly.
+
+"Yes, news--terrible news."
+
+"Let's have it--if you like," he said.  "I don't care.  It don't matter,
+unless it will do you good to tell it."
+
+Her face was wrung by the agony of her soul as she heard his callous
+words.  The veil was being terribly rent now; and as her eyes saw more
+clearly, she tried in vain to close her mental sight; but no, she seemed
+forced to gaze now, and the idol that was tottering began to show that
+it was indeed of clay.
+
+"Well, don't look like that," he said.  "A man who has been transported
+is pretty well case-hardened.  There _is_ no worse trouble in life."
+
+"No worse?" she panted out in a quick, angry way, as words had never
+before left her lips; "not if he lost the love and trust of wife and
+child?"
+
+"Well, that would be unpleasant," he said coolly.  "Perhaps the poor
+wretch would be able to get over it in time.  What is your news?"
+
+"I have heard you freshly accused to-day of that old crime, of which you
+were innocent."
+
+"Of which I was innocent, of course," he said coolly.  "Is that all?"
+
+She did not answer for a few minutes, and then as he half rose
+impatiently, as if to go, she said excitedly: "That case I brought over,
+Robert."
+
+"Case?" he said with a slight start.
+
+"From the old house."
+
+"Well--what about it?"
+
+"Tell me at once, or I shall go mad.  What did it contain?"
+
+"Papers.  I told you when I wrote."
+
+"That would set him free," the voices in her heart insisted.
+
+"Who has been setting you to ask about that, eh?"  She did not reply.
+
+"You did not keep faith with me," he cried angrily.  "You have been
+telling Sir Gordon, or that Bayle."
+
+"I told no one," she said hoarsely.
+
+"Hah!" he ejaculated with a sigh of relief.
+
+"Stephen Crellock has told Julia what she--and I--declare is false."
+
+"Stephen Crellock is a fool," he cried quickly.  "Go and fetch Julia
+here.  She must be talked to."
+
+"Robert! my husband," cried Mrs Hallam, throwing herself upon her knees
+and catching his hands, "you do not speak out.  Why do you not
+passionately say it is false?  How dare he accuse you of such a crime!
+You do not speak!"
+
+She gazed up at him wildly.
+
+"What do you want me to say?" he cried angrily.  "Do you think me mad,
+woman?  Here, let's have an end of all this nonsense.  What does
+Crellock say?"  She could not speak for a few minutes, so overladen was
+her heart; and when she did, the words were hoarse that fell upon his
+ears.
+
+"He said--he told our simple, loving girl, whom I have taught to trust
+in and reverence her martyred father's name; whose faith has been in
+your innocency of the crime for which you were sent here--the girl I
+taught to pray that your innocence might be proved--"
+
+"Will you go on?" he cried brutally.  "I'm sick of this.  Now, what did
+he say?"
+
+"That--Oh, Robert, my husband, I cannot say it!  His words cannot be
+true!"
+
+"Will you speak?" he cried.  "Out with it at once!  When will you grow
+to be a woman of the world, and stop this childishness?  Now what did
+the chattering fool say?"
+
+"That the box I brought over contained the proceeds of the bank
+robbery--money that you had hidden away."
+
+Millicent Hallam started up and gazed about her with a dazed look, as if
+she were startled by the words she heard--words that seemed to have come
+from other lips than hers; and then she pressed her hands to her heaving
+bosom as her husband spoke.
+
+"Stephen Crellock must be getting tired of his leave," he said coolly.
+"An idiot!  He had better have kept his tongue between his teeth.  How
+came he to be chattering about that?  If he don't mind--" He did not
+finish the sentence, and his wife's eyes dilated as she gazed at him in
+a horrified way.
+
+"You do not deny it!" she said at last.  "You do not declare that this
+is all cruelly false!"
+
+"No," he said slowly, "I am not going to worry myself about his words.
+He can't prove anything."
+
+"But it is a charge against your honour," she cried; "against me.
+Robert! you will not let this go uncontradicted for an hour longer?"
+
+"Stephen Crellock had better mind," said Hallam, slowly and
+thoughtfully, as if he had not heard his wife.
+
+"But, Robert--my husband! you will speak for your own sake--for your
+child's sake--for mine?"
+
+There was a growing intensity in the words, whose tones rose to one of
+passionate appeal.
+
+He made an impatient motion that implied a negative, and she threw
+herself once more upon her knees at his feet.
+
+"You will deny this atrocious charge?"
+
+"If I am asked I shall deny it of course," he said coolly; "but you
+don't suppose I am going to talk about it without?"
+
+"But--but--that man believes it to be true!"
+
+"Well, let him."
+
+"Robert--dear Robert," she cried, "you must not, you shall not treat it
+like that!  It is as if you were indifferent to this dreadful
+statement."
+
+"Because it is better to let it rest, madam, so let it be."
+
+"No!" she cried, with a wave as it were of her old trust sweeping all
+before it; "I cannot let it rest.  If you will not speak in your own
+defence, I must!"
+
+"What do you mean?" he said hastily.
+
+"That if for his child's sake, Robert Hallam will not defend himself
+against such a vile and cruel lie, his wife will!"
+
+"What will you do?" he said, with an ugly sneer upon his lip.
+
+"See this man myself, and force him to deny it--to declare that it is
+not true.  My husband cannot sit down patiently with that charge flung
+against his wife's honour and his own."
+
+Me sat gazing at her from beneath his thick eyebrows for a few minutes
+as she paced the room, agitated almost beyond bearing; and then he spoke
+in the most matter-of-fact way.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind."
+
+"Not speak?"
+
+"No; I forbid it."
+
+"Forbid it?"
+
+"Yes.  Do you suppose I want my leave stopped?  Do you want to send me
+back to the gang who are chained like dogs?"
+
+"Hush!" she cried, with a shudder; and she covered her face, as if to
+shut out some terrible sight.  "Do you not feel that you are running
+risks by remaining silent?"
+
+"I should run greater risks by having the matter talked about.  That
+great fool, Steve, must be warned to be more cautious in what he says,
+for all our sakes."
+
+"Robert!" in a tone of horror.
+
+"There, there, wife, that will do!  Let's talk it over without
+sentiment; I haven't a bit of romance left in me, my dear.  Life out
+here has cleared it off.  You may as well know the truth as at any
+future time.  Bah!  Let's throw away all this flimsy foolery.  You've
+known it all along, only you've been too brave to show it."
+
+"I--known the truth?" she faltered.  "You believe this?"
+
+"Yes," he said, without reading the horror and despair in her eyes; and
+the brutal callousness of his manner seemed to grow.  "What's the use of
+shamming innocence?  You knew what was in the box."
+
+"I knew what my husband told me; that there were papers to prove his
+innocence," she replied.
+
+"You knew that?"
+
+"They were my husband's words; and in my wifely faith I said that they
+were true."
+
+He looked at her mockingly.
+
+"You play your part well, Millicent," he said; "but remember we are in
+Sydney, both twenty years older than when we first met at King's Castor.
+Is it not time we talked like man and woman, and not, after all that we
+have gone through, like a sentimental boy and girl?"
+
+"Robert!"
+
+"There, that will do," he said.  "You understand now why you must hold
+your tongue."
+
+It was as if once more she had snatched at the veil and thrust it over
+her eyes, to gaze at him in the old, old way, as if it were impossible
+to give up the faith to which she had clung for so many years.
+
+"No," she said softly, "I cannot.  Some things are too hard to
+understand, and this is one."
+
+"Then I'll make you understand," he said, almost fiercely.  "If another
+word is uttered about this it will go like wildfire.  Some meddling fool
+in the Government service will take it up; everything will be seized,
+and I shall be sent back to the gang through you.  Do you hear? through
+you!"
+
+She stood now gazing at him with her eyes contracting.  Her lips parted
+several times as if she were about to speak, and as if her brain were
+striving, indeed, to comprehend this thing that she had declared to be
+too hard.  At last she spoke.
+
+"You shall say," she cried hoarsely.  "Tell me what it was I brought
+over to you."
+
+"What, again!" he cried.  "Well, then, what I had saved up for the rainy
+day that I knew was coming.  My fortune, that I have been waiting all
+these years to spend; notes that would change at any time; diamonds that
+would always fetch their price.  You did not guess all this?  You did
+not see through it all?  Bah!  I'm sick of this miserable mock sentiment
+and twaddle about innocence!"
+
+She drew her breath hard.
+
+"I had to fight the world when I was unlucky in my speculations, and the
+world got me down.  Now my turn has come, and I can laugh at the world.
+Let's have no more fooling.  You have understood it all from the
+beginning, and have played your part well.  Let me play mine in peace."
+
+An angry reply rose to her lips, but it died away, and she caught at his
+hand.
+
+"It is true, then?" she whispered.
+
+"True?  Yes, of course," he said brutally.
+
+"That money, then?  Robert, husband, it is not ours.  You will give it
+up--everything?"
+
+"Give it up!" he said, laughing.  "Not a shilling.  They hounded me down
+most cruelly!"
+
+"For the sake of our old love, Robert," she whispered, as she clung to
+him.  "Let us begin again, and I will work for you.  Let us try, in a
+future of toil, to wash away this clinging disgrace.  My husband, my
+husband! for the sake of our innocent child!"
+
+"Give up what I have!" he cried.  "Now that I have schemed till success
+is mine!  Not a shilling if it were to save old Sir Gordon's life."
+
+"But, Robert, for the sake of our child.  I am your wife, and I will
+bear this blow; but let her go on believing in him whom I have taught
+her to love.  Let the past be dead; begin a new life--repentance for
+that which has gone.  Robert, my husband, I have loved you so dearly,
+and so long."
+
+"Pish!" he cried, impatiently.  "You don't know what you're saying.
+Lead a new life--a life of repentance!  I have had a fine preparation
+for it here.  Why, I tell you they would turn a saint here into a fiend!
+I sinned against their laws, and they sent me here, herded with
+hundreds, some of whom might have been brought to better lives; but it
+has been one long course of brutal treatment, and the lash.  Hope was
+dead to us all, and we had to drag on our lives in misery and despair.
+I tell you I've had to do with people who sought to make us demons, and
+you talk to me now of repentance for the past."
+
+"Yes, and you shall repent!" she cried, wildly.
+
+"Silence!" he said, fiercely.  "You are my wife, and it is your duty to
+obey.  Not a word of this to Julie.  I will speak to her; and as to
+Crellock--oh, I can manage him."
+
+He thrust her aside, and strode out of the room without another word,
+leaving her standing with her hands clasped together, gazing into
+vacancy, as if stunned by the blow that had fallen--as if the savage
+acceptance of the truth of the charges by her husband had robbed her of
+her reason.
+
+During her long trial, whenever a shadowy doubt had crept into her
+sight, she had slain it.  Always he had been her martyr, and she had
+been ready, in fierce resentment, to turn upon those who would have cast
+the slightest reflection upon his fame.  He, the idol of her young life,
+her first love, had suffered through misfortune, through an ugly turn of
+fate, and she had gone on waiting for the day when he would be cleared.
+
+In that spirit, she had crossed the wide ocean, bearing with her his
+freedom, as she believed; and now, after fighting a year against the
+terrible disillusions that had been showing Robert Hallam in his true
+light, the veil that she had so obstinately held was rent in twain, torn
+away for ever.  By his own confession, the husband of her love was a
+despicable thief; and as she realised how she had been made his
+accomplice in bringing over the fruits of his theft, the blow seemed now
+greater than she could bear, the future one terrible void.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE SHADOW ACROSS THE PATH.
+
+What to do?  How to bear it?  How far she--woman of purest thought--had
+sinned in participating as she had in Hallam's crime?
+
+It was as if the shock had blunted and confused her understanding, so
+that she could not think clearly or make out any plan for her future
+proceeding.  And all the time she was haunted as by a great horror.
+
+Now light would come, and she would seem to see her course clearly and
+wonder that she should have hesitated before.  It was all so simple.
+Sir Gordon was there in Sydney, her oldest friend.  He it was who had
+been the sufferer by her husband's defalcations, and of course it was
+her duty to go straight to him and tell him all.
+
+No sooner had she arrived at this than she shrank from the idea with
+horror.  What could she have been thinking!  To go to Sir Gordon was to
+denounce her husband as a criminal, and the result would be to send him
+back to the prison lines and the hideous convict life that had changed
+him from a man of refinement to a brutal sensualist, from whom in future
+she felt that she must shrink with horror.
+
+Those last thoughts distracted her.  Shrink with horror from him whom
+she had so dearly loved, from him whom she had believed a martyr to a
+terribly involved chain of evidence!  It was too terrible!
+
+But what was she to do?  She could not lead this life of luxury,
+purchased by the money she had so innocently brought; that was certain.
+She and Julia must leave there at once.  They could not stay.
+
+She shivered as she thought of the difficulties that would rise up.  For
+where were they?  Out here, in this half-civilised place, penniless; and
+what defence had she to bring forward if Robert Hallam, her husband and
+master, said no, she should stay, and claimed her and her child as his?
+
+There was light again.  She could appeal to the governor, for Hallam had
+forfeited his social rights, and she would be free.
+
+Down came the darkness and shut out that light, closing her in with a
+blackness so terrible that she shuddered.
+
+It was impossible--impossible!
+
+"He is my husband," she moaned, "and were he ten times the sinner, I
+could not take a step that would injure the man I loved--the father of
+my child!"
+
+Christie Bayle!
+
+Yes; Christie Bayle, truest and most faithful of friends, who in the
+days of his boyish love had resigned himself to her wishes, and promised
+to be her brother through life.
+
+How good he had been; and how she had in her agony of spirit reviled
+him, and called him her husband's enemy!  How his conduct seemed to
+stand out now, bright and shining!  How full of patient self-denial!
+Brother, indeed, through all, while she had been--she knew it now, and
+shivered in her agony--so obstinately blind.
+
+Christie Bayle would help her and protect Julia, whom he loved as if she
+were his child.  He would--yes, she reiterated the thought with a
+strange feeling of joy--he would help her, as he had helped her before,
+in this time of anguish, and protect Julia from that man.
+
+For now came, in all its solid horror, the reality of that which had
+only been cast, so far, as a shadow across her path.
+
+This man, Crellock, who had seemed like Hallam's evil genius from the
+first, but whom she saw now as her husband's willing tool, had conceived
+a passion for her darling child.  More--he was her husband's chosen
+companion in pleasure and in guilt, and Hallam would--if he had not done
+so already--accept him.
+
+"And I sit here bemoaning my suffering," she cried passionately, "when
+such a blow is impending for my darling.  Shame! shame!  Am I ever to be
+so weak a woman, so mere a puppet in others' hands?  Heaven give me
+strength to be forgetful of self, and strong in defence of my child!"
+
+She pressed back her hair from her brow, which became full of lines,
+and, resting her elbows upon her knees, her chin upon her hands, she sat
+there gazing as it were into the future, as she told herself that her
+own sufferings must be as nought, but that she must save Julia from such
+a fate.
+
+Sir Gordon?  Bayle?  No! no!  Only as a last resource.  Not even then;
+they must be left.  They had known the truth from the first--she saw it
+now--and in pity for her had borne all she had said, and helped her.
+
+No! to ask their aid was to punish her husband.  That could not be.  She
+must act alone, weak woman as she was.  She must be strong now, and she
+and Julia must leave this man at once.  They must take some cottage or
+lodging in the town, and work for a living.  That must be the first
+step.
+
+Then came the black cloud again, to shut out the hope.  Hallam would not
+allow them to go; and if they could steal away they were absolutely
+penniless.
+
+She sat gazing before her, feeling as if old age had come suddenly to
+freeze her faculties and render her helpless; but, starting from her
+blank sense of misery, she forced herself to think.
+
+What should she do?  Julia should not be a convict's wife; she felt that
+she would rather see her dead.
+
+Once more a ray of hope--a thin, bright ray of light piercing the cloud
+of darkness ahead.
+
+Lieutenant Eaton!
+
+He loved her child, and it had seemed as if Julia cared for him, but in
+her maiden innocency she had always shrunk from anything more than a
+friendly show of attachment.
+
+"But he is manly, and evidently devoted to her," said Mrs Hallam in a
+low voice.  "She would soon learn to love him."
+
+She ran over in her own mind all that had passed since the acquaintance
+on ship-board began.  Eaton's attentions, the pleasant hours Julia had
+seemed to spend in his company, the young officer's manner--everything
+pointed to its being on his part more than the gallant attention of one
+of his stamp.  Then there was the life here since they had landed.  His
+occasional calls; his evident hesitancy.  It was all so plain.  He loved
+Julia dearly, but he was kept back from proposing for her by her
+connections.
+
+"But he will ignore them for her sake," she cried at last joyously.  "He
+must be learning day by day how true and good she is.  He will forget
+everything, and she will be saved."
+
+Mrs Hallam started up with the ray of hope cutting its way more and
+more brightly through the dark cloud ahead; and then her senses seemed
+to reel, a terrible fit of giddiness came over her as she tottered,
+caught at a chair, and then fell heavily upon the floor.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+"TO THE BETTER WAY."
+
+When Mrs Hallam came to herself, she was in bed, where she had lain,
+talking incoherently at times, during the greater part of a week.
+
+It was evening, and the sun was shining in at the open window, lighting
+up Julia's dark hair as she sat with her face in the shadow, careworn
+and evidently suffering deeply.
+
+Mrs Hallam lay for some time feeling restful and calm.  The fevered
+dream was at an end, and she had slept long, to wake now with that
+pleasurable sensation upon her that is given to the sick when an attack
+is at an end, and nature is tenderly repairing the damages of the
+assault.  She was lying there; Julia, her beloved child, was by her
+side.  A veil was between her and the past, and there was nothing but
+the peaceful sensation of rest.
+
+Then, as her eyes wandered slowly about the room and rested at last upon
+her child, her mind began to work; the mother's quick instinct awoke,
+and she read trouble in Julia's face.  The memories that were slumbering
+came back, and she tried to rise in her bed but sank back.
+
+"Mother!"
+
+"My child!  Tell me quickly: have I been ill?"
+
+"Yes; very, very ill.  But you are better now, dear mother.  I am so
+lonely!  Ah! at last, at last!"
+
+Worn out and weak with constant watching, Julia threw herself sobbing by
+the bedside, but only to hurriedly dry her eyes and try to be calm.
+
+She succeeded, and answered the questions that came fast; and as she
+replied, Mrs Hallam trembled, for she could see that Julia was keeping
+something back.
+
+"Have I been delirious?" she said at last.
+
+"Yes, dear; but last night you slept so peacefully, and all through
+to-day.  There, let me call Thisbe."
+
+"No, not yet," said Mrs Hallam, clinging to her child's arm, as a great
+anxiety was longing to be satisfied.  "Tell me, Julia, did I talk--talk
+of anything while I was like that?"
+
+Julia nodded quickly, and the despairing look deepened in her eyes.
+
+"Not--not of your father, my child?" panted the suffering woman.
+
+"Yes, mother, dear mother," sobbed Julia, with a passionate cry that she
+could not withhold, and she buried her face in the sick woman's breast.
+
+The sun sank lower, and Julia's low sobs grew more rare, but she did not
+rise from her knees--she did not lift her tear-stained face, while
+clasped about her neck, and her fingers joined above the glossy head, as
+if in prayer, Mrs Hallam's hands, thin and transparent from her
+illness, seemed bathed in the orange glow of the sweet, calm eve.
+
+All was still and restful on the hill-slope above the beautiful
+Paramatta River, and from the window there was a scene of peace that
+seemed to hinder the possibility of trouble existing on this earth.
+
+"Julia," said Mrs Hallam at length; "have you thought of all this--
+since--since I have been lying here?"
+
+"Yes, dear, till I could think no more."
+
+"It has come at last," said Mrs Hallam, as she lay with closed eyes.
+
+"It has come, dear?" said Julia, starting up, and gazing at her mother
+with dilating eyes.
+
+"Yes, my child, our path.  I could not see it before in the wild
+confusion of my thoughts, but I know our duty now.  You will help me,
+dear?"
+
+"Help you, mother?  Oh, yes.  What shall I do?"
+
+Mrs Hallam did not answer for a few minutes, and then said softly:
+
+"You know all, you say.  It has come to you with as great a shock as to
+me; but I can see our duty now.  Julia, he must love us dearly; we are
+his wife and child, and we must lead him back to the better way."
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+A CONVICT RISING.
+
+"Ah, Mr O'Hara," said Bayle, holding out his hand, "I have not seen you
+for months.  Why do you not give me a call?"
+
+"Because I am a convict, sir," said the young Irishman, paying no heed
+to the extended hand.
+
+"Oh, yes; but that is past now," said Bayle.  "One doesn't look upon you
+as one would upon a thief or a swindler, and even if you had been both
+these worthies, a man of my cloth comes to preach forgiveness, and is
+ready to hold out the right hand to every man who is sorry for the
+past."
+
+"But I am not sorry for the past, sir," said O'Hara firmly.
+
+"I've studied it all," said Bayle quietly, "and the rising was a
+mistake."
+
+"Don't talk about it, please, sir," said O'Hara hotly.  "You are an
+Englishman.  You could not gaze upon that trouble, for which I was
+transported, from an Irishman's point of view."
+
+"Then we will not talk about it," said Bayle; "but come, I am no enemy
+of your country."
+
+"I should say, sir, that you were never any man's enemy but your own,"
+said O'Hara dryly.
+
+Bayle smiled.
+
+"There, shake hands," he said.  "How has the world been using you?"
+
+"Better lately, sir.  I am comfortable enough in the Government office,
+and now I am helping the commission that is investigating the prison
+affairs.  And you, sir?"
+
+"Oh, I am busy enough, and happy enough.  Then it was you I caught sight
+of in the prison yard a month ago?  I thought it was; but it gave me
+such a chill that I would not look."
+
+"Why, sir?"
+
+"I was afraid that you had gone backwards, and were there again."
+
+O'Hara's hard, care-lined face relaxed, and there was a pleasant smile
+on his countenance when he spoke again.  "I heard about you, sir, in the
+lines."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"The men talked a good deal about you."
+
+"Yes?" said Bayle good-humouredly.  "I'm afraid they laugh at me and my
+notions."
+
+"They do," said O'Hara thoughtfully.  "Poor wretches!  But you have made
+more impression and gained more influence, sir, than you think."
+
+"I wish I could feel so," said Bayle with a sigh.
+
+"If you will take my opinion, sir, you will feel so," said O'Hara.  "I'm
+glad I met you, sir, for I have been a great deal in the prison lately,
+and I can't help thinking there is something wrong."
+
+"Something wrong?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I believe the men are meditating a rising."
+
+"A rising?  In Heaven's name, what do they expect to do?"
+
+"Obtain the mastery, sir, or seize upon a vessel or two, and escape to
+some other land."
+
+"But have you good reason for suspecting this?"
+
+"No other reason than suspicion--the suspicion that comes from knowing
+their ways and habits.  Such a rising took place when I was there years
+ago."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"It was suppressed, and the poor wretches who were in it made their case
+worse, as they would now."
+
+"But the authorities must be warned."
+
+"They have been warned," said O'Hara quietly.  "I am not one of them
+now, and knowing what I do of the musket and bayonet and the lash, I
+lost no time in laying my suspicions before my superiors.  Yes," he
+said, "I was right, was I not?"
+
+"Right?  Unquestionably.  Such men, until they have been proved, have no
+right to be free.  Then that is the meaning of the extra sentries I have
+seen."
+
+"That is it, sir; but if the sentries were doubled again, I'm afraid the
+mistaken men would carry out their notions, unless some strong influence
+were brought to bear.  Why don't you try to get hold of the ringleaders,
+sir, and show them the madness of the attempt?"
+
+"I will," said Bayle quickly, and they parted; but they were not
+separated a hundred yards before there was a shout, and Bayle turned to
+see O'Hara running after him swiftly.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"I'm afraid I have spoken too late, sir.  I heard a shot out yonder,
+beyond that house where the new road is being made.  A strong gang has
+been at work there for a fortnight past.  Do you hear that?"
+
+Two distant shots in quick succession were heard, and Christie Bayle
+turned pale, for the sounds came from beyond the house pointed out, and
+that house was Hallam's.
+
+"We had better go and give the alarm at the governor's office."
+
+"No, no," said Bayle.  "We may be in time to help up here.  Come
+quickly, man; run!"
+
+It seemed madness to O'Hara; but there was a decision in Bayle's order
+that did not seem to brook contradiction, and being a quick, lithe man,
+he ran step for step with his companion, as they made their way amongst
+the park-like growth of the hill-side in the direction of the spot
+whence the sounds had come.
+
+Bayle had a very misty idea of what he meant to do, and once or twice
+the thought came that, after all, this might be only some one amusing
+himself with a gun after the beautifully-plumaged birds that were common
+enough in the neighbourhood then.
+
+These ideas were quickly overthrown, for soon they could see the
+uniforms of the convict guard in the distance, and the gleam of a
+bayonet, followed by another shot, and some figures running down the
+side of one of the valleys leading to the shore.
+
+It was now that Bayle realised his intentions, and they were to go to
+the help of those who were at Hallam's house, in case it should be
+attacked.
+
+As they came nearer, though, it was evident that the fight which was in
+progress was more to the right of the house, and becoming fiercer, for
+some half-dozen shots were fired in a volley from a ravine down amongst
+some trees, the hills being occupied by a swarm of men.
+
+All at once three figures came out of the house on the slope, and as he
+advanced Bayle made out that they were Hallam, Crellock, and one who was
+unmistakable from his undress uniform.
+
+When they came out it was evident that the latter was urging his
+companions to follow him; but they stopped back, and he dashed on, down
+into the ravine.
+
+It was heavy running for Bayle, and the young officer was far ahead of
+him; but he hurried on, O'Hara keeping well up to his side, and together
+they saw him meet a couple of the retreating guard, who stopped at his
+command, faced round, and accompanied him, the three plunging down among
+the bushes and disappearing from the sight of Bayle and his companion.
+
+"The men will be very dangerous," said O'Hara.  "We shall find them
+armed with picks, spades, and hammers."
+
+"They will not hurt me," panted Bayle, "and we may save bloodshed."
+
+"I don't think they will hurt me," said the young Irishman grimly.  "Are
+you going on, sir?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Good.  Then I will risk it, too."
+
+They were going forward all the time, hurrying down into the valley, and
+leaving Hallam's house away to the left, with Hallam and Crellock
+watching the proceedings, they having a view from their commanding
+position of that which was hidden from Bayle and his friend.
+
+As they ran on, though, they heard another shot or two, and a loud
+shouting, while a couple of hundred yards on ahead they could see four
+of the guard retreating along the slope, pursued by about a dozen of the
+convicts, another party coming towards them, a glimpse of a bayonet
+showing that others of the guard were being driven back towards Hallam's
+house, while in another minute it was plain that Eaton had not been able
+to join forces with the men.
+
+In fact the convicts had divided into two parties, and these, going in
+opposite directions, were driving their guards before them with furious
+shouts.
+
+A little army of two pensioners, led by an officer armed with a cane,
+had but a poor chance of success against some five-and-twenty savage
+men, whose passions had been raised to volcanic point by seeing a couple
+of their number shot down at the beginning of the fray, when they had
+risen against the sergeant and eight men who had them in charge.  Of
+these they had beaten down the sergeant and two of his men, and were
+apparently determined upon taking revenge upon those who had fired upon
+them, before trying to escape.
+
+The bushes hindered the view, but at last Bayle came in full sight of
+Eaton and the two men just as a stone was hurled, hitting one of them in
+the chest, so that he went down as if shot.  His companion turned to
+fly, but a furious shout from Eaton stopped him, and he faced the enemy
+again as the young officer reached over the fallen guard, took his
+musket, with its fixed bayonet, and stood his ground, to protect the
+poor fellow who was down.
+
+It was only a matter of moments, and before Bayle could get up the
+convicts had made a rush, yelling furiously.
+
+It was hard to see what took place; but as Bayle ran down the slope, his
+heart beating fast with apprehension, the man dropped, and Bayle had
+just time to strike one blow on the young officer's behalf, as the
+convicts closed him in, and bore him back against the scarped face of
+the little ravine.
+
+It was only one blow, but it was given with the full force of a strong
+arm and had the weight of a well-built man rushing down a steep slope to
+give it additional force.
+
+The result was that the man Bayle struck, and another behind him, went
+rolling over--the former just as he had raised a spade to strike at
+Eaton's defenceless head.
+
+"You cowardly dogs!" roared Bayle, as, failing another weapon, he caught
+up a spade one of the convicts had let fall.
+
+The attack was so sudden and unexpected that the men gave way, and stood
+glaring for a few moments, till one of their number shouted:
+
+"It's only the parson, boys.  Down with 'em!"
+
+But they did not come on, and, taking advantage of their hesitation,
+Bayle turned to Eaton.
+
+"Quick!" he said, "get away from here."
+
+"No," said the young officer hoarsely.  "I can't leave my men.  Ah!"
+
+He uttered a sharp cry, and sank down, for a piece of stone had been
+hurled at him with force enough to dislocate his shoulder, half stunning
+him with the violence of the blow.
+
+As the young man fell the convicts uttered a yell of delight, all three
+of their adversaries being now _hors de combat_; but they were not
+satisfied, one of their number rushing forward to deliver a cowardly
+blow with the stone-hammer he bore.
+
+Bayle did not realise for the moment that so brutal an act could be
+committed upon a fallen adversary, and he was so much off his guard that
+he only had time to make a snatch at the handle, and partly break the
+force of the blow, which fell on Eaton's cap.
+
+Then there was a quick struggle, and the convict staggered, tripped over
+a loose block of stone, and fell with a crash.  There was an ominous
+murmur here, and the men stood hesitating, each disposed to make a rush
+and revenge the fall of his companion; but there was no leader to
+combine the force and lead them on, and, taking advantage of their
+hesitation, Bayle stooped down, lifted the insensible man, and strode
+away.
+
+The convicts were taken by surprise at this act, and some were for
+fetching him back, but the remainder were for letting him go.
+
+"Take the swaddy's guns, lads, and let's be off at once," said one of
+the party, and the two muskets were seized, a convict presenting the
+bayonet of the piece he had secured at the breast of one of the fallen
+men, both of whom lay half-stunned and bleeding on the rough ground.
+
+"Shall I, boys?" he said.
+
+"No; hold hard," cried a voice, and a member of the party who had been
+in pursuit of the other portion of the guard came up.  "Tie them hand
+and foot, and leave them so as they can't give warning.  Who's that
+going up the hill?"
+
+"Parson and the orficer," said one of the men.
+
+"And who's that running yonder?"
+
+"That Irishman who was in with us--O'Hara."
+
+"Can any one shoot and bring him down?  Give me a musket."
+
+He snatched the piece offered to him, took careful aim by resting the
+musket on the edge of the scarped bank, and fired.
+
+There was the sharp report, the puff of white smoke,
+
+[This page missing.]
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER NINE.
+
+LIEUTENANT EATON IS IN THE WAY.
+
+[This page missing.]
+
+Panting, and with his throat dry with excitement as much as with
+exertion, he toiled on, feeling as if every few paces had brought him
+nearly to a haven of refuge, but only on raising his eyes to see the
+house apparently as far off as ever, and to hear the voices of the
+convicts close at hand, the gully acting as a kind of tube to convey the
+sound.  He paused for a moment to get a better hold of his burden, and
+Eaton uttered a low groan, but he managed to get him in an easier
+position, and started off once more, toiling on till the gully opened on
+his left, and he saw O'Hara rise from behind some bushes, where he had
+been creeping, and begin to run.  Then his blood seemed to turn cold,
+his heart to stop beating, for quicker than it can be told, there was a
+shout, a dead silence, and then the sharp report of a musket, as O'Hara
+went down, and rolled out of his sight as well.
+
+Bayle ground his teeth, and a chill of despair came over him as he
+realised that the Irishman had been making for the town to give the
+alarm and bring help, while now the news might not reach Sydney till the
+hour when the draft and their guard should return.
+
+"Those poor fellows!" moaned Eaton, piteously, as Bayle toiled on with
+him, seeing now that Hallam and Crellock were outside the verandah,
+looking curiously towards him, but not taking a step to his aid.
+
+"I can't ask their help if they do not offer it," muttered Bayle, as he
+staggered on, growing weaker with his exertion, and finally stopping for
+a moment or two so as to get his breath.
+
+Then came the confused murmur of voices, when, looking back, he saw that
+he was pursued; and as he pressed forward again the horrible thought
+flashed through his brain that he was leading the savage band of utterly
+reckless men right to the house where two tender women might even then
+be trembling witnesses of what was going on.  The agony he suffered at
+this thought was so great that he stopped short, his brain swimming;
+and, in spite of the fact that the convicts were close behind, he would
+have staggered off to the left, had not a white figure suddenly appeared
+on the side farthest from where Hallam and Crellock had backed close to
+the window, and ran swiftly to meet him.
+
+It was like some episode in a dream to Bayle, as that white figure flew
+to his side.
+
+"Quick, Mr Bayle, quick!" and, catching at Eaton in the belief that she
+was helping to bear him, Julia pressed towards the house.
+
+"Julie! are you mad?" roared Hallam, as soon as she was seen; and
+Crellock started out after her.
+
+"Quick! help! help!" she cried in a sharp imperious manner; and, as is
+so often the case where one quick order is given, those who would not,
+if they had time to think, stir a finger in a cause, feel themselves
+moved by some irresistible influence, and obey.  So Crellock seized
+Eaton, and helped bear him into the dining-room, Hallam banging to the
+window and fastening it as Eaton was thrown upon the couch.
+
+"You are mad!" cried Hallam passionately.  "They'll wreck the place
+now."
+
+"They won't hurt us," said Crellock coolly; and to Julia's horror he
+threw open the window as the convicts came up at the double and rushed
+into the room.
+
+"Steady, mates, steady!" shouted Hallam.  "You know us."
+
+The leading men hesitated a moment, and then one of them made a dash at
+Eaton.
+
+"Now, boys, have him out," he cried.
+
+Julia shrieked, and threw herself before the helpless man, when the
+convict rudely caught her by the arms to swing her aside, but was sent
+staggering sideways from a blow dealt by Bayle.
+
+"Save him, Mr Bayle," shrieked Julia, as she clung to Eaton.  "Father!
+oh, father, help!"
+
+Neither Hallam nor Crellock stirred as the man whom Bayle had struck
+uttered an oath which was echoed by his companions, who seized Bayle and
+held him as others of the party dragged out Eaton, fortunately
+insensible to all that was going on.
+
+In their insensate fury believing that they had a long list of injuries
+to repay the convict guard, who in guarding them had only done their
+duty, in another minute Eaton's life would have been sacrificed, when
+there was the tramp of feet, an order given in a loud voice, and a party
+of soldiers led by Captain Otway dashed up with bayonets fixed.  And
+then two wounded convicts were lying on the floor, the others were in
+full flight down the gully, pursued by the troops, a shot every now and
+then breaking the silence that had fallen upon the group.
+
+Hallam was the first to speak, and he turned angrily upon Bayle.
+
+"Were you mad to bring him here?" he snarled.
+
+"Father!" cried Julia with a reproachful look, as she knelt down beside
+Eaton to hold her handkerchief to his wounded head.
+
+Bayle made no reply to the question, but said sternly:
+
+"Mr Hallam, you had better send for medical aid.  My dear Julia, you
+must go."
+
+"No," she cried with a quick, imperious look; "send for help."
+
+Bayle's brow contracted, but he concealed the pain he suffered as he saw
+Julia bending over Eaton, and was hurrying out, but was met by Captain
+Otway, who came in breathless, followed by O'Hara, and a couple of his
+men.
+
+"Is he much hurt?" he cried anxiously.  "Carry out these two, my lads."
+
+He bent down over Eaton as Julia sobbed out, "He is killed! he is
+killed!"
+
+"Oh, no: not so bad as that; only stunned.  Here, you two," he continued
+sharply, turning to Hallam and Crellock, "don't stand there staring.
+Lift this gentleman on to the sofa."
+
+Years of slavish obedience to authority had left their traces, and as if
+moved by one impulse, they sprang to where Eaton was lying and lifted
+him to the couch.  The moment this was done though, Hallam gave an
+impatient stamp of the foot and gazed at Crellock, who ground out
+something between his teeth.
+
+"Now fetch water--a sponge," said Otway, sheathing his sword, throwing
+off his cap, and turning up his sleeves.
+
+"This is my house--"
+
+Hallam said no more.  He had begun in a fierce, loud voice, and then he
+stopped as Captain Otway turned upon him with an imperious--
+
+"What's that you say?"  Then he seemed to recall where he was, for he
+glanced at Julia and Bayle.  "Look here," he said quietly, and he took a
+step or two towards Hallam to whisper something in his ear.
+
+Hallam made no reply, but left the room, and did not return, Thisbe
+hurrying in directly after with basin and towels, and helping eagerly.
+
+"Oh, come, come, my dear Miss Hallam," said Otway, after cleverly
+bandaging the wound.  "You must not take on like that.  I can't do
+anything to the shoulder--at least, I will not.  Our doctor will soon
+put him right.  There, see! he is coming to."
+
+"I have been trying very hard," said Julia with a gasp; "but it is so
+dreadful."
+
+"No, no, no!  Why, my wife would have seen it all without shedding a
+tear.  It's only dreadful when some one is killed, and, thank heaven!  I
+don't think one of the men has met that fate."
+
+"I wish I could feel the same about the convicts," said Bayle softly.
+
+"The convicts?  Well, I wish so, too, Mr Bayle; but law and order must
+be maintained, and they know their lives are forfeit if they attempt to
+escape."
+
+Bayle nodded in acquiescence as he glanced at where Julia knelt beside
+Eaton, crying softly, and fanning his face.
+
+"There, you have nothing to fear, Miss Hallam," continued the Captain
+kindly.  "Eaton has only had a few hard knocks--soldier's salary, I call
+them.  As to the rising, the poor wretches are, I expect, all taken by
+this time.  Yes, here they come."
+
+He had walked to the window and gazed out to see the greater part of the
+convict gang, hot, bleeding some of them, and dejected, coming along,
+guarded by the soldiers under the command of a boyish-looking ensign.
+
+"Ah, Mr O'Hara," he said, stepping out, and laying his hand on the
+young Irishman's shoulder, "I think we may thank you for getting up in
+time.  Your message set us off, and we met you just in the nick.  Why,
+man, you are hurt."
+
+"Not much, sir.  They shot at me, and the bullet grazed my arm."
+
+"Come in," he said, "and let me see."
+
+O'Hara followed unwillingly, but had to submit to have his wound
+dressed.
+
+"Where is your master?" said the Captain at last, turning to Thisbe.
+
+"In his room, sir."
+
+"Fetch him."
+
+Hallam uttered a furious oath when the message was given, and swore he
+would not come.  Then, rising from his chair, he followed Thisbe to the
+dining-room like one compelled to obey.
+
+"I am going to leave my brother officer in your charge, Mr Hallam,"
+said the Captain in the quick manner of one giving an order.  "You will
+see that he has every attention!  The regimental surgeon will be up in
+an hour or so.  Miss Hallam, thank you for your kindness," he continued,
+turning his back on Hallam.  "Good-morning, Mr Bayle.  I'm sorry you
+have had such an upset.  You stay here, I suppose?"
+
+"No," said Bayle quietly; "I am going back to the town."
+
+"Come with me, then."
+
+He stepped out, and Bayle followed, but turned to look at Julia, who
+gave him one quick look that seemed to say "Good bye," and then as he
+stepped out into the verandah he saw her bending over Eaton again.
+
+"Nice little girl that," said the Captain, as they marched down behind
+the guards and the wretched men they drove before them almost at the
+bayonet's point.
+
+Bayle bowed.
+
+"Sweet and innocent, and all that.  Really, Mr Bayle, I agree with my
+wife."
+
+"Indeed!" said Bayle.
+
+"Yes; she thinks that at any cost her friends ought to have kept her in
+England, and not brought her here."
+
+Christie Bayle made no reply, for he was thinking of Philip Eaton lying
+wounded up at the house, and Julia installing herself as his nurse.
+
+But she was not bending over him at that time, for no sooner had the
+last of the party gone, than Crellock said something fiercely to Hallam.
+
+"No, no, never mind," the latter said, savagely.
+
+"I tell you I won't have it," cried Crellock.  "Ah, you needn't scowl
+like that.  I'm not afraid of your looks.  Will you go and fetch her
+out?"
+
+"No, I shall not interfere."
+
+"Then I will," cried Crellock, passionately.  "I've been played with too
+long."
+
+"Played with!" cried Hallam.  "Look here, Steve, if I put up with the
+bullying of that officer fellow, don't you think I'm going to let you
+say and do what--"
+
+He stopped short and literally flinched, as if he expected a blow, for
+Crellock turned upon him sharply, but merely looked him full in the
+face.
+
+"Well, I--that is--I--"
+
+He faltered and stopped.  The old days of his domination had gone by;
+Crellock had ceased to be slave to the self-indulgent man, who had
+become servant, first to the strong drinks in which he indulged, and
+then, as his nerve failed, the obedient tool of him who had once
+trembled before him, worshipped him almost as the very perfection of
+what a man should be, and now made him tremble before him in his turn.
+
+"Do you want to quarrel and get rid of me?" said Crellock, sharply.
+
+"Don't talk like that, my lad," said Hallam, piteously.  "You know how
+my health's going, and how nervous I am.  It makes me irritable when you
+are so unreasonable."
+
+"Yes, very unreasonable to bear what I do," snarled Crellock.  "But
+reasonable or no, I'm not going to back out of it, and I am not going to
+let you."
+
+Hallam's flushed face turned of a sodden white.
+
+"I'd just as soon be back with the gang," continued Crellock, "as be
+trifled with in this way by a man who used to be one to say a thing and
+do it.  Now he's becoming a miserable, feeble driveller, afraid of every
+one who speaks to him."
+
+"So were you just now, when that Otway gave his orders."
+
+"Force of habit," said Crellock, with a grim smile.  "Anyhow, I'm not
+afraid of you, and if you have not strength of mind enough to carry out
+what I say, I shall do it without you."
+
+"No, no, Steve; you are so hasty," said Hallam, in a feeble, whimpering
+tone.
+
+"Hasty!"
+
+"Well, as I keep telling you, there's plenty of time."
+
+"And I keep telling you there is not.  Look here, Hallam.  I'm not
+blind.  That miserable parson wants her."
+
+"Now you are getting ridiculous."
+
+"And this officer fellow will be making such way with her, if I don't
+mind, that I shall have no chance."
+
+"You're frightening yourself with bogies, Steve."
+
+"You're playing such a double game, Robert Hallam, that either I shall
+have to take the reins in my own hands, or we shall come to a
+breakdown."
+
+"Nonsense!  What's the use of talking like that?"
+
+"What's the use of a man setting his mind upon something, and then
+letting a weak thing like you play with him?  I'll have no more of it.
+Now you have to do as I say or break, and that means--"
+
+"Hush, Steve!" cried Hallam, looking sharply round; but Crellock paid no
+heed to his words, and swung out of the study to walk straight into the
+room where Julia was kneeling by Eaton, with Thisbe on the other side.
+
+"Come here, Julia," he said roughly; "I want you."
+
+"Hush!  Not so loud," she whispered, raising her hand.
+
+"Come here!" he cried, with a stamp of the foot, "at once."
+
+Julia started to her feet with an angry look flashing from her eyes; and
+as she faced him, her countenance full of resentment, Thisbe rose,
+thinking of her mistress in bygone days.
+
+"What do you want?" she said firmly.
+
+"Your father wants you in the study at once."
+
+Julia flushed slightly, and glanced at Thisbe, whose face looked as hard
+as if cut in stone, while the resemblance was increased by the position
+of her eyelids, which were drawn down, as if to veil the anger that was
+burning in her breast.
+
+Then, without a word Julia left the room, closely followed by Crellock,
+and Thisbe was left with the wounded man alone.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER TEN.
+
+IN THE NIGHT.
+
+Julia escaped the interview that she dreaded; for, just as they entered
+the hall, there was the thudding of horses' feet coming over the road,
+and Hallam came out of his room with a curious startled look in his
+face, to catch Crellock by the arm.
+
+"There's something wrong, Steve," he whispered hoarsely; "a stranger
+coming up, and the Captain with him."
+
+"Bah!  You shivering coward," said Crellock, with a look of contempt
+which made Julia bite her lip, though she could not hear the words.
+"You have drunk bad brandy till you see a warder in every man who comes
+to the house.  Have a little pluck in you, if you can."
+
+The door was opened directly without ceremony by Captain Otway, who held
+it back for his companion, who had just dismounted, to enter.
+
+"Sorry to intrude so unceremoniously, Miss Hallam," said the Captain,
+ignoring the presence of the two men, "but I met my friend here coming
+up, Mr Woodhouse, our doctor."
+
+Julia bowed, and the doctor, a little, rubicund-looking man, took off
+his cap.
+
+"I'm a bit of a vulture in my way," he said pleasantly.  "I always mount
+and come out to see whenever anything of this kind goes on.  Which room,
+please?" he added quickly.  "I want to get back."
+
+Julia hastily opened the door, and was about to follow them, but the
+doctor said quietly:
+
+"No, no.  You shall hear how he is afterwards."
+
+Julia coloured, for the visitor spoke in a very meaning tone; and,
+leaving the hall, she hurried to her mother's side, while Hallam angrily
+backed into his room, followed by Crellock.
+
+"They treat me as if I were nobody," he cried, grinding his teeth; and
+then going to a cupboard he took out a bottle and glass, poured out some
+liquid and drank it off with a sigh of relief.
+
+"Yes," said Crellock slowly; "they don't forget about our past, old
+fellow.  Never mind.  No, thank you: I promised Julie to leave the stuff
+alone;" and he thrust back the offered glass.
+
+"You promised her that?" said Hallam.
+
+"Yes, and I'm going to keep my word.  Hang it, Bob Hallam, I wouldn't
+drink myself into such a wreck as you're getting to be for the whole
+world."
+
+The spirit was rapidly giving Hallam temporary confidence, and he turned
+upon his companion sharply.
+
+"Don't speak to me like that," he said, "or you'll regret it."
+
+"Don't speak to you like that?" retorted Crellock, scornfully.  "Bah!  I
+shall speak as I please.  Look here, Robert Hallam, some of us must be
+masters, some servants.  You've made yourself servant, so keep your
+place.  I'm not going to be turned out of my purpose by a little Dutch
+courage."
+
+Hallam came at him furiously, but Crellock took him by the shoulders and
+thrust him back into his chair, and then stood over him.
+
+"It won't do, old fellow," he said; "the nerve has gone, and the more
+you drink to get it up, the weaker it grows.  Now then, we understand
+each other, so let's settle this matter quietly, and get it over.  No
+more excuses; no more shuffling.  Understand me, I don't mean to wait.
+What's that?"
+
+It was the voice of Captain Otway summoning some one to come; and Julia,
+who had been anxiously waiting, hastened down at the same time as Thisbe
+hurried to the room.
+
+"The doctor wants to give a few instructions," he said.  "Eaton is going
+on all right, but he thinks he had better not be moved to-night, Miss
+Hallam, so we must beg your hospitality till to-morrow."
+
+"And there is no danger?" said Julia eagerly.
+
+"Not if he is kept quiet," said the doctor, putting on his gloves.  "Let
+him sleep all he can.  Some one ought to sit up with him to-night."
+
+"I'll do that," said Crellock, who had been standing in the doorway.
+
+Julia started slightly, but Crellock's countenance was quite unmoved.
+
+"That will do," said the doctor.  "Come, Otway."
+
+The latter raised his cap, and they left the house.
+
+"I don't much like leaving Eaton with a ticket-of-leave man for nurse,"
+said the Captain, as they descended the hill towards their quarters.
+
+"Oh, he'll be right enough there," replied the doctor chuckling.  "The
+young lady will take care of him.  I say, does Phil mean to marry her?"
+
+"I don't know," said Otway shortly.  "Let's get on."
+
+They hurried away, and for the next two hours the doctor was busy with
+the injured people; the convicts being safe in the prison, groaning over
+their wounds and the ill-success of their attempt.
+
+Julia felt a strange anxiety about their patient, as the night drew
+near; and her anxiety was increased by the behaviour of Mrs Hallam,
+who, after keeping her room for some days, declared herself well enough
+to come down.
+
+Opposition from Thisbe and her child was useless, and she descended to
+sit with the latter, watching by Eaton's couch, which was made up for
+him in the dining-room, where he lay apparently insensible to all that
+was going on around.
+
+It was a strange afternoon and evening, the excitement of the early
+portion of the day having unnerved every one in the house.  The meals
+were partaken of hastily, and the attention of all was centred on the
+sleeping man in the dining-room.
+
+Julia, in her anxiety, was for staying with Thisbe and continuing the
+watch; but Crellock showed that he had not forgotten his promise, and a
+nameless dread took possession of the girl's breast.
+
+She told herself that it was absurd--that in spite of his roughness
+there seemed to be something genuine about her father's companion; but,
+all the same, her dread increased, and it was the more painful, that she
+did not dare to communicate it to Mrs Hallam.
+
+In fact, she was at a loss to explain her reasons for feeling alarmed to
+herself.  Eaton seemed to be sleeping comfortably, and Crellock, when he
+came into the room, was gentle and respectful, more than was his wont.
+
+"You two had better go to bed," said Hallam at last roughly; and, pale
+and troubled looking, Mrs Hallam rose without a word, took Julia's
+hand, and they left the room, but not to sleep; while Crellock's watch
+began by his taking a candle, snuffing it, and holding it down close to
+Eaton's face, scanning his features well before setting it on the
+chimney-piece, lighting a cigar, and going out into the verandah, to
+walk up and down, thinking deeply.
+
+Sometimes he stopped to lean his arms on the wooden rail, and stare up
+at the great mellow stars that burned in the deep purple sky; but only
+to start as from a dream, to go back into the room, and see if the
+wounded man had moved.
+
+When in the verandah he ground his teeth and clenched his hands.
+
+"The fools!" he muttered; "they might have hit a little harder, and
+then--Pooh! what does he matter?"
+
+At the end of an hour he stole back softly into the room to look at the
+sleeping man again.
+
+"He's not much hurt," he muttered.  "Who's there?"
+
+"Only me," said Hallam, in a hoarse whisper.  "Just coming to see how
+you were getting on."
+
+"No, you were not.  You were watching me," said Crellock, in an angry
+whisper.  "Did you think I was going to kill him--to get him out of the
+way?"
+
+"No, no.  Nothing of the kind, my dear boy," whispered Hallam.  "There,
+I'll go back to my room."
+
+"You'll go up to bed," said Crellock firmly.  "You've been drinking too
+much."
+
+"Indeed, no.  Just a little to steady me."
+
+"You go up to bed," said Crellock, taking him by the shoulder.  "I'm not
+going to have my dear father-in-law elect drive himself mad with brandy.
+Come, no nonsense!  Bed!"
+
+Hallam made a few feeble protests, and then suffered himself to be led
+up to his bedroom, Julia and Mrs Hallam sitting trembling in the next,
+and watching the light flash beneath their door, as they listened to the
+ascending and descending steps, followed by a rustling in Hallam's room,
+the low angry muttering he indulged in, and then there was silence once
+again.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed, and they were listening to the heavy,
+stertorous breathing, when a soft tap came at their door, the handle was
+turned, and Thisbe appeared.
+
+"I only came to see if you were both quite safe," she said.  "I could
+not sleep."
+
+"Dear old Thisbe," said Julia, kissing her.
+
+"Do, do, please go to bed, my dears," said Thisbe.  "I'll sit and watch
+by you;" and at last, in obedience to her prayer, mother and daughter
+lay down, but not to sleep, for the dread of some impending calamity
+that they fancied was about to befall them.
+
+Meanwhile Crellock had returned to the dining-room and examined the
+wounded man again.
+
+"It wouldn't be hard," he said to himself, with a laugh.  "He is half
+killed, so it would only be half a murder.  Why shouldn't I?  He would
+be out of his misery; and that drunken wretch gave me the credit of
+being about to do it."
+
+He stood gazing down at the sleeping face faintly seen by the
+candle-light; and then turned away to go out through the glass door, and
+pace the verandah again.
+
+"I wonder whether that's what they call a temptation," he thought.  "It
+would be very easy, and then--"
+
+He stopped to lean over the rails again, and gaze before him out into
+the night.
+
+"No," he said softly.  "I told the little lass I wouldn't drink again,
+so as to be more fit to come nigh her, and I don't think I should do to
+go nigh her if I killed that spark of a fellow so as to be sure of
+getting a wife.  It's curious what a woman can do," he went on musing.
+"They can make anything of a man--go through fire and water to get her,
+but it must be fire and water such as she'd be glad to see me go
+through.  A year or so ago I'd got to that state with the prison life
+and the lash, that I'd have given any soldier or warder a crack on the
+head and killed him, and felt the happier for doing it.  Since I've been
+nigh her--since that day she hung over me, and gave me water, and wiped
+the sweat from my face, I've seemed as if I must make myself cleaner
+about the heart; and I have, all but the drink, and that was his fault,
+for he was never happy when he wasn't forcing it on one.
+
+"No, my fine fellow," he said with a sigh, "you're safe enough for me.
+I won't hurt you; and as to her liking you--bah!  If she does, I'll soon
+make her forget that."
+
+He took a cigar from his pocket, and was in the act of placing it
+between his lips when his gaze became fixed, and he stood staring
+straight before him.
+
+"Who's there?" he said in a quick, sharp whisper.  "I can see you.  You
+there!"
+
+He sprang over the rail, and his hand went by old habit into his pocket
+in search of a weapon; but the answer that came disarmed him.
+
+"It is I."
+
+"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" cried Crellock.
+
+"I am watching," said Bayle.
+
+"Yes," cried Crellock wearily.  "Me, I suppose.  Well, what have you
+seen?  Do you think I was going to finish young Eaton?  There--speak
+out."
+
+"I came up because I could not sleep," said Bayle quietly.  "I was
+anxious about my friends.  How is Mr Eaton?"
+
+"Go in and see," said Crellock roughly; and he led the way through the
+verandah.
+
+Bayle made no reply, but walked straight to the couch, after taking the
+candle from the chimney-piece, and examined the injured man.
+
+"He is sleeping comfortably and well," he said in a whisper, as he
+replaced the candle.
+
+"Of course he is," sneered Crellock.  "You seem very fond of him."
+Bayle paid no heed to his manner, but stood as if thinking.  "Well, are
+you going to stop?  Have a cigar?"
+
+"I will stay and watch with you if you are tired, and relieve you for an
+hour or two," said Bayle, at last.
+
+"I'm not tired.  You can stop if you like.  You won't find me very good
+company."  Bayle walked to the couch again, and stood looking down at
+the handsome dimly-seen face for a few minutes, while, with an impatient
+gesture, Crellock walked back into the verandah.  At the end of a few
+minutes Bayle joined him.  "You are going to stay then?" said Crellock.
+
+"No," replied Bayle, "I am going home."
+
+"Better stop," sneered Crellock.  "He'll be safer if you do.  I might do
+him some mischief."
+
+"No, Stephen Crellock," said Bayle calmly, "I am not afraid of that; bad
+as you are.  Good-night."
+
+Crellock started at the words "Bad as you are," but the friendly sound
+of the "good-night" checked him.
+
+"Good-night," he said, hoarsely; and he stood watching the dark figure
+till it disappeared amongst the trees, and then paced the verandah, and
+sat and smoked till morning.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+THE DOCTOR GIVES WAY.
+
+The doctor was up there soon after sunrise to find Mrs Hallam and Julia
+by Eaton's couch, they having come down to take Crellock's place shortly
+after daybreak.
+
+"Good-morning.  How is he?" said the doctor, quickly.  "Mrs Hallam, you
+look ill yourself."
+
+"Nervous excitement.  This trouble," said Mrs Hallam, quietly; and she
+left the room with Julia, after answering a few questions.
+
+The doctor examined the injury to the head, which was sufficiently
+grave, and then proceeded to re-bandage the shoulder that had been
+dislocated, watching the young man's face, however, the while.
+
+He felt the strained sinews, pressed on this bone, then on that, causing
+intense pain, and making his patient wince again and again; but though
+the muscles of his face twitched, and his lips involuntarily tightened,
+he did not even moan till, passing one hand beneath his shoulder, the
+doctor pressed on the bones again, when, with a sharp cry, Eaton drew in
+his breath.
+
+"Hang it, doctor," he whispered, quickly, "it's like molten lead."
+
+"Ah, I thought that would make you speak, Phil.  You confounded young
+humbug!  I saw you were shamming."
+
+"No, no, doctor, not shamming.  My head aches frightfully, and I can't
+move my arm."
+
+"But you could get up and walk down to barracks to breakfast?"
+
+"No, indeed I couldn't, doctor."
+
+"It's a lie, sir.  If the enemy were after you, I'll be bound to say you
+would get up and run."
+
+"By George, I wouldn't!" whispered Eaton.
+
+"Well, get up and have a go at them, my boy."
+
+"Perhaps I might do that," said the young man, with the blood coming in
+his white face.
+
+"Pretty sort of a soldier, lying here because you've had your shoulder
+out, and a crack on the head.  Why I've seen men behave better after a
+bullet wound, or a bayonet thrust."
+
+"But there is no need for me to behave better, as you call it, and one
+gets well so much more quickly lying still."
+
+"With a couple of women paddling about you, and making you gruel and
+sop.  There, get up, and I'll make you a sling for that arm."
+
+"No, no, doctor.  Pray, don't."
+
+"Get up, sir."
+
+"Hush!  Don't speak so loudly," whispered Eaton.
+
+"Ah-h-h!  I see," said the doctor, "that's it, is it?  Why how dense I
+am!  Want to stop a few days, and be nursed, eh?"
+
+Eaton nodded.
+
+"Fair face to sympathise.  White hands to feed you with a spoon.  Oh, I
+say, Phil Eaton!  No, no!  I've got my duty to do, and I'm not going to
+back up this bit of deceit."
+
+"I wouldn't ask you if there was anything to call for me, doctor,"
+pleaded Eaton; "but I am hurt, there's no sham about that."
+
+"Well, no; you are hurt, my lad.  That's a nasty crack on the head, and
+your shoulder must be sore."
+
+"Sore!" said Eaton.  "You've made it agonising."
+
+"Well, well, a few days' holiday will do you good.  But no; I'm not
+going to be dragged up here to see you."
+
+"I don't want to see you, doctor.  I'm sure I shall get well without
+your help.  Pray don't have me fetched down."
+
+"I say, Phil," said the doctor; "look me in the face."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is it serious?  You know--with her."
+
+"Very, doctor."
+
+"But it's awkward.  The young lady's father!"
+
+"Miss Hallam is not answerable for her father's sins," said Eaton
+warmly.
+
+"But the young lady--does she accept?"
+
+Eaton shook his head.
+
+"Not yet," he said; "and now that the opportunity serves to clinch the
+matter you want to get me away.  Doctor, for once--be human."
+
+Doctor Woodhouse sat with his chubby face pursed up for a few minutes,
+gazing down in the young man's imploring countenance without speaking.
+
+"Well, well," he said, "I was a boy myself once, and horribly in love.
+I'll give you a week, Phil."
+
+"And I'll give you a life's gratitude," cried the young man joyfully.
+
+"Why, by all that's wonderful," cried the doctor, with mock surprise,
+"I've cured him on the spot!  Here, let me take off your bandages, so
+that you may get up and dance.  Eh?  Poor lad, he is a good deal hurt
+though," he continued, as he saw the colour fade from the young man's
+face, and the cold dew begin to form.  "A few days will do him good, I
+believe.  He is, honestly, a little too bad to move."
+
+He bathed his face, and moistened his lips with a few drops of liquid
+from a flask, and in a few minutes Eaton looked wonderingly round.
+
+"Easier, boy?  That's it.  Yes, you may stay, and you had better be
+quiet.  Feel so sick now?"
+
+"Not quite, doctor.  Oh!  I am so glad I really am ill."
+
+The doctor smiled, and summoned Mrs Hallam, who came in with Julia.
+
+"I must ask you to play hostess to my young friend here.  He shan't die
+on your hands."
+
+Julia turned pale, and glanced from one to the other quickly.
+
+"Mr Eaton shall have every attention we can give him," said Mrs
+Hallam, smiling; and the doctor looked with surprise at the way her
+pale, careworn face lit up with tenderness and sympathy as she laid her
+hand upon the young man's brow.
+
+"I'm sure he will," said the doctor, "and I'll do my best," he added,
+with a quick look at his patient, "to get him off your hands, for he
+will be a deal of trouble."
+
+"It will be a pleasure," said Mrs Hallam, speaking in all sincerity.
+"English women are always ready to nurse the wounded," she added with a
+smile.
+
+"I wish I could always have such hands to attend my injured men, madam,"
+said the doctor with formal politeness.  "There, I must go at once.
+Good-bye, Eaton, my boy.  You'll soon be on your legs.  Don't spoil him,
+ladies; he is not bad.  I leave him to you, Mrs Hallam."
+
+She followed the doctor to the door to ask him if he had any directions,
+received his orders, and then, with a bright, hopeful light in her eyes,
+she went softly back towards the dining-room.  A smile began to glisten
+about her lips, like sunshine in winter, as she laid her hand upon the
+door.  Then she looked round sharply, for in the midst of that dawning
+hope of safety for her child there was a heavy step, and the study-door
+opened.
+
+She turned deadly pale, for it was Stephen Crellock's step; and the
+words that came from the study were in her husband's voice.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+MRS OTWAY ON LOVE.
+
+"Ah!  Phil, Phil, Phil!" exclaimed Mrs Otway as she sat facing Eaton
+some mornings later, while he lay back in a Chinese cane chair, propped
+up by pillows.  "Come, this will not do."
+
+He met her gaze firmly, and she went on.
+
+"This makes five days that you have been here, tangling yourself more
+and more in the net.  It's time I took you by the ears and lugged you
+out."
+
+"But you will not?" he said, lifting his injured arm very gently with
+his right hand, sighing as he did so, and rearranging the sling.
+
+Mrs Otway jumped up, went behind him, untied the handkerchief that
+formed the sling, and snatched it away.
+
+"I won't sit still and see you play at sham in that disgraceful way,
+Phil," she cried.  "It's bad enough, staying here as you do, without all
+that nonsense."
+
+"You are too hard on me."
+
+"I'm not," she cried.  "I've seen too many wounded men not to know
+something about symptoms.  I knew as well as could be when I was here
+yesterday, but I would not trust myself, and so I attacked Woodhouse
+about you last night, and he surrendered at once."
+
+"Why, what did he say?"
+
+"Lit a cigar, and began humming, `Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes
+the world go round!'"
+
+Eaton clapped his hands upon the arms of his chair, half raised himself,
+and then threw himself back, and began beating the cane-work with his
+fingers, frowning with vexation.
+
+"There, you see what a lot of practice it takes to make a good
+impostor," said Mrs Otway.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"How bad your arm seems!"
+
+"Pish!" exclaimed the young man, beginning to nurse it, then ceasing
+with a gesture of contempt, and looking helplessly at his visitor.  "The
+pain's not there," he said dolefully.
+
+"Poor boy!  What a fuss about a pretty face!  There, I'm half ready to
+forgive you.  It was very tempting."
+
+"And I've been so happy: I have indeed."
+
+"What, with those two men?"
+
+"Pish!--nonsense!  It's dreadful that those two sweet ladies should be
+placed as they are."
+
+"Amen to that!"
+
+"Mrs Hallam is the sweetest, tenderest-hearted woman I ever met."
+
+"Indeed."
+
+"No mother could have been more gentle and loving to me."
+
+"Except Lady Eaton," said Mrs Otway dryly.
+
+"Oh! my mother, of course; but then she was not here to nurse me."
+
+"I'd have nursed you, Phil, if you had been brought into quarters."
+
+"Oh, I know that!" cried Eaton warmly; "but, you see, I was brought on
+here."
+
+"Where mamma is so tender to you, and mademoiselle sits gazing at you
+with her soft, dark eyes, thinking what a brave hero you are, how
+terribly ill, and falling head-over-ears more in love with you.  Phil,
+Phil, it isn't honest."
+
+"What isn't honest?" he said fiercely.  "No man could have resisted such
+a temptation."
+
+"What, to come here and break a gentle girl's heart?"
+
+"But I'm not breaking her heart," said Eaton ruefully.
+
+"I've written and told your mother how things stand."
+
+"You have?"
+
+"Yes; and that you have taken the bit in your teeth, and that I can't
+hold you in."
+
+"Well, it doesn't matter," said Eaton gloomily.  "I don't want to hurt
+my dear mother's feelings; but when she knows Julia and Mrs Hallam--"
+
+"And the convict father and his friend."
+
+"For Heaven's sake don't!" cried Eaton, striking the chair and wincing
+hard, for he hurt his injured shoulder.
+
+"I must, my dear boy.  Marriage is a terrible fact, and you must look at
+it on all sides."
+
+"I mean to get them both away from here," said Eaton firmly.  "Their
+present life is horrible."
+
+"Yes; it is, my boy."
+
+"My gorge rises every time I hear that drinking scoundrel of a father
+speak to Julia, and that other ruffian come and fetch her away."
+
+"Not a very nice way of speaking about the father of your intended,"
+said Mrs Otway dryly--"about your host."
+
+"No, and I would not speak so if I did not see so much.  The man has
+served part of his time for his old crime, of which he swears he was
+innocent, and I'd forget all the past if I saw he was trying to do the
+right thing."
+
+"And he is not?"
+
+"He's lost," said Eaton bitterly.  "The greatest blessing which could
+happen to this house would be for him to be thrown back into the gang.
+He'd live a few years then, and so would his wife.  As it is he is
+killing both.  As for poor Julia--ah!  I should be less than man, loving
+her as I do, if I did not determine to throw all thoughts of caste aside
+and marry her, and get her away as soon as I can."
+
+"I wish she were not so nice," said Mrs Otway thoughtfully.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, like the silly, stupid woman I am, I can't help sympathising
+with you both."
+
+"I knew you did in your heart," cried Eaton joyfully.
+
+"Gently, gently, my dear boy," continued Mrs Otway.  "I may sympathise
+with the enemy, but I have to fight him all the same.  Have you spoken
+to the young lady--definitely offered marriage?"
+
+"No, not yet."
+
+"But you've taught her to love you?"
+
+"I don't know--yet--"
+
+"Judging from appearances, Phil, I'm ready to say I do know.  What about
+mamma?"
+
+"Ah! there I feel quite satisfied."
+
+"What, have you spoken to her?"
+
+"No, but she sits and talks to me, and I talk to her."
+
+"About Julia?"
+
+"Yes; and it seems as if she can read my heart through and through.
+Don't think me a vain coxcomb for what I am about to say."
+
+"I make no promises: say it."
+
+"I think she likes me very much."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"She comes into the room sometimes, looking a careworn woman of sixty;
+and when she has been sitting here for a few minutes, there's a pleasant
+smile on her face, as if she were growing younger; her eyes light up,
+and she seems quite at rest and happy."
+
+"Poor thing!" said Mrs Otway sadly.  "But, there, I can't listen to any
+more.  I am on your mother's side."
+
+"And you are beaten, so you may give up.  It's fate.  My mother must put
+up with it.  So long as I am happy she will not care.  And, besides, who
+could help loving Julie?  Hush!"
+
+There was a tap at the door, and Julia entered.
+
+"Not I, for one," said Mrs Otway aside, as she rose and held out her
+hands, kissing the young girl warmly.  "Why, my dear, you look quite
+pale.  This poor bruised boy has been worrying you and your mother to
+death."
+
+"Indeed, no," cried Julia eagerly.  "Mr Eaton has been so patient all
+the time, and we were so glad to be able to be of service.  Sir Gordon
+Bourne is in the other room with mamma.  May he come in and see you?"
+
+"I shall be very glad," said Eaton, looking at her fixedly; and Mrs
+Otway noted the blush and the downcast look that followed.
+
+"Phil's right.  He has won her."
+
+"He proposes driving you home with him, and taking you out in his boat.
+He thinks it will help your recovery."
+
+"Oh no, I couldn't move yet," said Eaton quickly.
+
+"I think it would do you good," said Mrs Otway.  "What do you say, Miss
+Hallam?"
+
+"We should be very sorry to see Mr Eaton go," said Julia quietly; "but
+I think you are right."
+
+"Phil's wrong," said Mrs Otway to herself.
+
+At this moment Sir Gordon entered the room with Mrs Hallam and proposed
+that Eaton should return with him, but only to find, to his annoyance,
+that the offer was declined.
+
+"You will have to make the offer to my husband, Sir Gordon," said Mrs
+Otway merrily.  "You will not find him so ungrateful."  And then she
+turned to Eaton, leaving the old man free to continue a conversation
+begun with Mrs Hallam in another room.
+
+"I do not seem to find much success in my offers," he said, in a low
+voice; "but let me repeat what I have said.  Should necessity arise,
+remember that I am your very oldest friend, and that I am always waiting
+to help Millicent Hallam and her child."
+
+"I shall not forget," said Mrs Hallam, smiling sadly.
+
+"If I am away, there is Bayle ready to act for me, and you know you can
+command him."
+
+"I have always been the debtor of my friends," replied Mrs Hallam; "but
+no such emergency is likely to arise.  I have learnt the lesson of
+self-dependence lately, Sir Gordon."
+
+"But if the emergency did occur?"
+
+"Then we would see," replied Mrs Hallam.
+
+"Well, Philip, my dear boy," cried Mrs Otway loudly, "in three days we
+shall have you back."
+
+"Yes, in three days," he replied, glancing at Julia, who must have
+heard, but who went on with a conversation in which she was engaged with
+Sir Gordon, unmoved.
+
+"Then good-bye," she cried, "Mrs Hallam, Miss Hallam, accept my thanks
+for your kindness to my boy here.  Lady Eaton appointed me her deputy,
+but I'm tired of my sorry task.  Good-bye.  Are we to be companions
+back, Sir Gordon?"
+
+"Yes--yes--yes," said the old gentleman, "I am coming.  Remember," he
+said, in a low tone to Mrs Hallam.
+
+"I never forget such kindness as yours, Sir Gordon," she replied.
+
+"Good-bye, Julia, my child," he said, kissing her hands.  "If ever you
+want help of any kind, come straight to me.  Good-bye."
+
+"If she would only make some appeal to me," he muttered.  "But I can't
+interfere without.  Poor things!  Poor things!"
+
+"_I_ beg your pardon, Sir Gordon," said Mrs Otway.  "What are poor
+things?"
+
+"Talking to myself, ma'am--talking to myself."
+
+"You don't like Philip Eaton," she said quickly.
+
+"Eh?  Well, to be frank, ma'am, no: I don't."
+
+"Because he likes your little _protegee_?"
+
+"I'm sorry to say, madam, that she is not my _protegee_.  Poor child!"
+
+"Hadn't we better be frank, Sir Gordon?  Suppose Philip Eaton wanted to
+marry her--what then?"
+
+"Confound him!  I should like to hand him over to the blacks!"
+
+"What if she loved him?"
+
+"If she loved him--if she loved him, Mrs Otway?" said the old man
+dreamily.  "Why, then--dear me!  This love's one of the greatest
+miseries of life.  But, there, ma'am, I have no influence at all.  You
+must _go_ to her father, not come to me."
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+IN THE TOILS.
+
+"So he goes to-day, eh?" said Crellock.
+
+"Yes; I've seen him, and he's going to-day."
+
+"Lucky for him, for I've got into a state of mind that does not promise
+much good for any one who stands in my way," said Crellock, with an
+unpleasant look in his eyes.  "And now, mind this: as soon as he is
+gone, and we are alone, the matter is to be pressed home.  Here, I'll be
+off.  I don't want to say good-bye."  He picked up his whip and stepped
+out into the verandah, walking along past the dining-room window, which
+was open, and through it came the voice of Julia in measured cadence,
+reading aloud.
+
+Crellock ground his teeth and half stopped; but he gave his whip a sharp
+crack and went on.
+
+"A row would only frighten her, and I don't want to _do_ that.  The
+coast will be clear this afternoon."
+
+He went on round to the stable, saddled and mounted his horse, and
+turned off by the first track for the open country.
+
+"A good ride will calm me down," he said; and he went off at a gallop
+for a few miles, but with his head down, seeing neither green tree with
+its tints of pearly grey and pink, nor the curious tufts of grass in his
+path.  A mob of kangaroos started before him and went off with their
+peculiar bounds; flock after flock of parrots, with colours bright as
+the most gorgeous sunset, flew screaming away; and twice over he passed
+spear-armed blacks, who ceased their task of hunting for grubs to stare
+at the man riding so recklessly through the bush.
+
+All at once he dragged his horse back upon its haunches with a furious
+tug at the reins, and sat staring before him as in imagination he
+pictured a scene in the dining-room at the Gully House.
+
+"I'm a fool," he cried savagely; "a fool!  I've got the fruit ready to
+my hand, and I'm getting out of the way so as to let some one else pluck
+it.  Now perhaps I shall be too late."
+
+Dragging his horse's head round, he set spurs to its flanks, and in the
+same reckless manner began to gallop back.  This time he was less
+fortunate, though.  As he went he left the horse to itself, and the
+careful beast avoided rough parts or leaped them, carrying his rider in
+safety.  On the return Crellock was bent upon one thing only, getting
+back to the Gully House at the earliest moment possible.  Twice over the
+horse swerved at an awkward depression or piece of rock, either of them
+sufficient to bring both to grief, but for reward there was a savage
+jerk at the bit, a blow over the head from the heavy whip, and a dig
+from the spurs.  The result was that the poor brute went on as the crow
+flies at a hard gallop, rushed at an awkward clump of bush, rose, caught
+its hoofs, and fell with a crash, sending Crellock right over its head
+to lie for a few minutes half-stunned, and when he did gather himself
+up, with the scene seeming to sail round him, the horse was standing
+with its head hanging, snuffing at the coarse herbage, and stamping
+angrily with its off hind hoof.
+
+"You awkward brute!" cried Crellock, catching at the rein, and then
+lashing the poor animal across the flank.
+
+The horse started to the full length of the rein, but only on three
+legs; one had had a terrible sprain.
+
+"My luck!" said Crellock savagely, and, taking off the bridle, he
+hobbled the horse's legs, and started off to walk.
+
+Julia went on reading, with Philip Eaton drinking in every word she
+uttered, and at last, leaning forward from the couch upon which he lay,
+he felt that the time had come, and, no matter who and what her
+relatives might be, here was the wife of his choice.
+
+"Julia," he said in a low voice made husky with the emotion from which
+he suffered.
+
+She raised her eyes from the book and coloured, for it was the first
+time he had called her by her Christian name.
+
+"Have you thought," he said, "that I am going to-morrow?"
+
+"I thought it was to-day," she said naively.
+
+"To-day?  Yes, I suppose it is to-day, but I cannot think of anything
+but the one great fact that all this pleasant intercourse is to be at an
+end."
+
+Julia half rose.
+
+"No, no," he cried, trying to reach her hand, and then uttering a
+petulant ejaculation, for Mrs Hallam entered the room, looked eagerly
+from one to the other, and came forward, while Julia gave her a
+beseeching look, and went out.
+
+For a few minutes neither spoke, and then Eaton placed a chair for Mrs
+Hallam, and as she took it gazing at him searchingly, he hastily thought
+over what he should say, and ended by saying something else, for in a
+quick, blundering way, he cried:
+
+"Mrs Hallam, I cannot say what I wish.  You know how I love her."
+
+Mrs Hallam drew a long sighing breath, full of relief, and her eyes
+became suffused with tears.
+
+"Yes," she said at last; "I felt that you did love her.  Have you told
+Julie so?"
+
+"Not in words," he cried.  "She disarms me.  I want to say so much, but
+I can only sit and look.  But you will give your consent?"
+
+"Have you thought all this over?" said Mrs Hallam gravely.  "You know
+everything--why we came here?"
+
+"Yes, yes," he cried quickly.  "I know all.  I have known it from your
+first landing."
+
+"Such a union would not be suitable for you," she said gravely.
+
+"Not suitable!  Mrs Hallam, I am not worthy of your child.  But you are
+playing with me," he cried, his words coming fast now.  "You will not
+oppose it.  You see I know all.  Give me your consent."
+
+She sat looking at him in silence for some moments, and then laid her
+hand in his.
+
+"Yes," she said.  "If Julie loves you I will not withhold my consent."
+
+"And Mr Hallam, may I speak to him now?  Of course he will not refuse
+me.  You will tell him first.  And Julia, where is she?"
+
+In his eagerness his words came hurriedly, and he caught Mrs Hallam's
+hands to his lips and kissed them.
+
+"I will fetch Julie here," she said gently, and with a strange look of
+repose coming over her troubled face.
+
+She left the room and sought her child, who looked at her wonderingly.
+
+"Come," she said with her voice sounding broken and strange; "Mr Eaton
+wishes to speak to you."
+
+"Mother!" exclaimed Julia, shrinking.
+
+At that moment they heard Hallam's steps as he passed across the hall.
+
+Mrs Hallam's countenance changed, and she shuddered.
+
+"Come," she said; "you are not afraid of him?"
+
+"Of Mr Eaton?  Oh, no," cried Julia with animation; "but--"
+
+"Hush, my child!  I will not leave you.  Hear what he has to say before
+you speak."
+
+Julia's eyes seemed to contract, and there was a shrinking movement, but
+directly after she drew herself up proudly, laid her hand in her
+mother's, and suffered herself to be led into the room.
+
+"At last!" cried Eaton, flushing with pleasure.  "Julie, I dare speak to
+you now.  I love you with all my heart."
+
+He stopped short, for the window was darkened by the figure of Stephen
+Crellock, who looked in for a moment, and then beckoned with his hand to
+some one in the verandah.  Hallam came forward looking flushed and
+angry, and the two men entered the room.
+
+"We are just in time," said Crellock with a half laugh, but with a
+savage flash of the eye at Eaton.  "Mr Lieutenant Eaton is bidding the
+ladies good-bye."
+
+Eaton gave him an indignant look, and turned to Hallam.
+
+"Mr Hallam," he said proudly, "Mr Crellock is wrong.  I have been
+speaking to Mrs Hallam and--"
+
+"Mr Crellock is right," said Crellock in a voice of thunder, "and Mr
+Eaton is wrong.  He is saying good-bye; and now, Robert Hallam, will you
+tell him why?"
+
+"Yes," said Hallam firmly; "Mr Eaton should have spoken to me, and I
+would have explained at once that Mr Stephen Crellock has proposed for
+my daughter's hand, and I have promised that she shall be his wife."
+
+"But this is monstrous!" cried Eaton furiously.  "Julie, I have your
+mother's consent.  You will be mine?"
+
+Julia looked at him pityingly and shook her head.
+
+"Speak! for heaven's sake, speak!" cried Eaton.
+
+"No," she said in a low pained voice.  "You have mistaken me, Mr Eaton.
+I could never be your wife."
+
+Eaton turned to Mrs Hallam to meet her agonised, despairing eyes, and
+then without a word he left the room.
+
+For the blow had fallen; the shadow Millicent Hallam had seen athwart
+her daughter's life had assumed consistency, and as the thought of her
+own fate came with its dull despairing pain, she caught Julia to her
+breast to protect her from Crellock, and faced him like some wild
+creature standing at bay in defence of her young.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+FOR JULIE.
+
+"Where are you going?" said Crellock roughly, as prowling about the
+verandah, in pursuance of a determination to take care that there should
+be no further interference with his plans, he carefully watched the
+place, ready to refuse entrance, in Hallam's name, to every one who came
+till he had made sure of his prize.
+
+It was very early in the morning, and he had come suddenly upon Thisbe,
+dressed for going out, and with a bundle under her arm.
+
+"Into town," she said sharply.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To stay."
+
+"It's a lie!" he said.  "You are going to take a message to that parson,
+or the lieutenant.  You have a letter."
+
+"No, I haven't," said Thisbe, looking harder than ever.
+
+"What's in that bundle?"
+
+"Clothes.  Want to see 'em?  You can look."
+
+"Come, no nonsense, Thisbe!  You don't like me, I know."
+
+"I hate the sight of you!" said the woman stoutly.  "So you may; but
+look here, you may as well understand that in future I shall be master
+here, and for your own sake you had better be friends.  Now then, where
+are you going?"
+
+"Into town, I tell you; and I shall send for my box.  It's corded up in
+my room."
+
+"Why, what do you mean?" he said.
+
+"That I'm going, and I'm not coming back; and you two may drink
+yourselves to death as soon as you like."
+
+She brushed by him, and before he had recovered from his surprise, she
+was going down the path towards the gate.
+
+A thought struck Crellock, and he ran upstairs to the room Thisbe had
+occupied, and, sure enough, there was the big chest she had brought with
+her, corded up tightly, and with a direction-card tacked on, addressed,
+"Miss Thisbe King.  To be called for."
+
+"So much the better," he said joyously; "that woman had some influence
+with Mrs Hallam, and might have been unpleasant."
+
+That day he went down the town to one of his haunts, and after a good
+deal of search found out that Thisbe was in the place, and had taken a
+small cottage in one of the outskirts.  So, satisfied with his
+discovery, he returned, to find a man with a pony and dray on his way up
+to the house, where he claimed the box for its owner, and soon after
+bore it away.
+
+Hallam was in his room, half dozing by the open window, ready to give
+him a friendly nod as he entered, threw down his riding-whip, and took
+up his usual position, with his back to the fireplace.
+
+"Well," said Hallam, "what news?"
+
+"Oh, she has gone, sure enough."
+
+"So much the better," said Hallam.  "I always hated that woman."
+
+"What news have you?"
+
+"None at all."
+
+"Have you told your wife that I wish the marriage to take place at
+once?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then go and tell her."
+
+Hallam shifted uneasily in his chair, but did not stir.  "Look here!"
+cried Crellock fiercely, "do you want me to go through all our old
+arguments again?  There it is--the marriage or the gang."
+
+"You would have to go too!" said Hallam angrily.
+
+"Oh, no!  Don't make a mistake.  I did not bring over the plunder; and
+not a single note you have changed can be brought home to me.  Your leg
+is in the noose, or in the irons again, if you like it better.  No
+nonsense!  Go and see her while I prepare Julia."  Hallam rose, went to
+the cupboard, poured a quantity of brandy into a tumbler, gulped it
+down, and went to the drawing-room.  Mrs Hallam, who was looking white
+and hollow of cheek, was seated alone, with Julia, half-way down the
+garden slope, gazing pensively towards the town.
+
+Mrs Hallam rose quickly, as if in alarm, but Hallam caught her hand,
+and then softly closed the window, in spite of her weak struggle, as she
+saw Crellock crossing the garden to where Julia was standing.
+
+"Now, no nonsense!" he said.  "There, sit down."
+
+Mrs Hallam took the chair he led her to, and gazed up at him as if
+fascinated by his eyes.
+
+"I may as well come to the point at once," said Hallam.  "You know what
+I said the other night about Crellock?"
+
+"Yes," she replied hoarsely.
+
+"Well, he wishes it to take place at once, so we may as well get it
+over."
+
+"It is impossible!"
+
+"It is not impossible!" he said, flashing into anger.  "It is necessary
+for my comfort and position that the wedding should take place at once."
+
+"No, no, Robert!" she cried in a last appeal; "for the sake of our old
+love, give up this terrible thought.  If you have any love left for me
+spare our child this degradation!"
+
+She threw herself upon her knees and clasped his hands.
+
+"Don't be foolish and hysterical," he said coldly; "and listen to
+reason, unless you want to make me angry with you.  Get up!"
+
+She obeyed him without a word.
+
+"Now, listen.  I shouldn't have chosen Crellock for her husband, but he
+is very fond of her, and I cannot afford to offend him, so it must be."
+
+"It would kill her!" panted Mrs Hallam.  "Our child!  Robert--husband--
+my own love! don't, don't drive me to do this!"
+
+"I'm going to drive you to obey me in this sensible matter, which is for
+the good of all.  There, you see the girl is listening to him quietly
+enough."
+
+"It would kill her!  For the sake of all the old times do not drive me
+to this--my husband!" pleaded Mrs Hallam again.
+
+"You will prepare her for it; you will tell her it must be as soon as
+the arrangements can be made; you will stop all communications with
+Bayle and old Sir Gordon, and do exactly as I bid you.  Look here, once
+let Julia see that there is no other course, and she will be quiet and
+sensible enough."
+
+"Once more!" cried Mrs Hallam passionately, "spare me this, Robert, and
+I will be your patient, forgiving wife to the end!  I tell you it would
+break her heart!"
+
+"You understand!" he said.  "There, look at her!" he cried, pointing.
+"Why, the girl loves him after all."
+
+Julia was coming slowly up the path, with Crellock bending down and
+talking to her earnestly, till he reached the window, which Hallam
+unfastened, shrinking back and leaving the room, as if he could not face
+his child.
+
+As Julia entered, Crellock seemed to have no wish to encounter Mrs
+Hallam, and he drew back and went round the house to the study window,
+where he stopped leaning on the verandah-rail and gazing in, as Hallam
+stood at the cupboard, pouring himself out some more brandy.
+
+He had the glass in one hand, the bottle in the other, when he caught
+sight of the figure at the window, and with a start and cry of horror he
+dropped bottle and glass.
+
+"Bah! where is your nerve, man?" cried Crellock with a laugh of
+contempt.  "Did you think it was a sergeant with a file of men to fetch
+you away?"
+
+"You--you startled me," cried Hallam angrily.  "All that brandy gone!"
+
+"A good thing too!  You've had plenty.  Well, have you told her?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What did she say?"
+
+"The old thing."
+
+"But you made her understand?"
+
+"Yes.  What did Julia say?"
+
+"Oh, very little.  Told me she could never love me, of course; but she's
+a clever, sensible girl."
+
+"And she has consented?"
+
+"Well, not exactly; but it's all right.  There will be no trouble
+there."
+
+Meanwhile Julia had gone straight to her mother and knelt down at her
+feet, resting her hands upon her knees, in her old child-like position,
+and gazing up in the pale, wasted face for some minutes without
+speaking.
+
+"There is no hope, mother," she said at last; "it must be."
+
+Mrs Hallam sat without replying for some minutes; then, taking her
+child's face between her thin hands she bent down and pressed her lips
+upon the white forehead.
+
+"Julie," she whispered, "I was wrong.  I thought you loved Mr Eaton,
+and I believed that if you married him it would have cut this terrible
+knot."
+
+Julia smiled softly, and with her eyes half closed.  There was a
+curious, rapt expression in her sweet face, as if she were dreaming of
+some impossible joy.  Then, as if rousing herself to action, she gave
+her dark curls a shake, and said quietly:
+
+"If I had loved Mr Eaton it would only have cut the knot as far as I
+was concerned.  Mother, he would have broken my heart."
+
+"No, no; he loved you dearly."
+
+"But he would have taken me from you.  No: I did not love him, but I
+liked him very much.  But there, we must think and be strong, for there
+is no hope, dear mother, now.  You are right.  And you will be firm and
+strong?"
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Hallam, rising.  "For your sake, my child--my child!"
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+CRELLOCK ON GUARD.
+
+That night, after the roughly-prepared meal that topic the place of
+dinner, and at which mother and daughter resumed their places as of old,
+Hallam sat for some time with Crellock talking in a low tone, while Mrs
+Hallam returned to the drawing-room with Julia, both looking perfectly
+calm and resigned to their fate.
+
+At last Hallam rose, and followed by Crellock, crossed the hall and
+opened the drawing-room door, where his wife and child were seated with
+the light of the candles shining softly upon their bended heads.
+
+"It will be all right," he muttered; and he turned round and faced
+Crellock, who smiled and nodded.
+
+"Nothing like a little firmness," he said, smiling.
+
+Then Crellock went into the verandah to smoke his cigar and play the
+part of watch-dog in case of some interruption to his plans; and, while
+Hallam employed himself in his old fashion, drinking himself drunk in
+the house of Alcohol his god, the dark calm evening became black night,
+and a moist, soft wind from the Pacific sighed gently among the trees.
+
+Crellock walked round the house time after time, peering in at the
+windows, and each time he looked there was the heavy stolid face of
+Hallam staring before him at vacancy; on the other side of the house
+Julia gazing up into her mother's face as she knelt at her feet.
+
+It must have been ten o'clock when, as Crellock once more made his
+round, he saw that Hallam was asleep, and that Mrs Hallam had taken up
+the candle still burning, and with Julia holding her hand, was looking
+round the room as if for a last good-night.
+
+Then together they went to the door, hand in hand; the door closed; the
+light shone at the staircase window, then in their bedroom, where he
+watched it burn for about a quarter of an hour before it was
+extinguished, and all was dark.
+
+"I shan't feel satisfied till I have her safe," he said, as he walked
+slowly back to his old look-out that commanded the road.
+
+The wind came in stronger gusts now, for a few minutes, and then seemed
+to die quite away, while the clouds that overspread the sky grew so
+dense that it was hard to distinguish the trees and bushes a dozen yards
+from where he stood.
+
+He finished his cigar, thinking out his plans the while, and at last
+coming to the conclusion that it was an unnecessary task this watching,
+he was about to make one more turn round the verandah, and then enter by
+the window and go to bed, when he fancied he heard a door close, as if
+blown by the wind that was once more sighing about the place.
+
+"Just woke up, I suppose," he said, and he walked towards the study
+window and looked in.
+
+Hallam had not moved, but was sleeping heavily in his old position.
+
+Crellock listened again, but all was perfectly still.  It could not have
+been fancy.  Certainly he had heard a door bang softly, and the sound
+seemed to come from this direction.
+
+He stood thinking, and then went round and tried the front door.
+
+"Fast."
+
+He walked round to the back door, following the verandah all the way,
+and found that door also fast.
+
+"I couldn't have been mistaken," he said, as he listened again.
+
+Once more the wind was sighing loudly about the place, but the noise was
+not repeated, and he walked on to the dining-room window; but as he laid
+his hand upon the glass door and thrust it open, a current of air rushed
+in, and there was the same sound: a door blew to with a slight bang.
+
+Crellock closed and fastened the glass door as he stepped out and ran
+quickly round to the drawing-room, where it was as he suspected: the
+glass door similar to that he had just left was open, and blew to and
+fro.
+
+"There's something wrong," he said excitedly, his suspicions being
+aroused; and, dashing in, he upset a chair in crossing the room, and it
+fell with a crash, but he hurried on into the hall, through to the
+study, and caught Hallam by the arm.
+
+"Wake up!" he said excitedly.  "Hallam!  Wake up, man."
+
+He had to shake him heavily before the drink stupefaction passed off,
+and then Hallam stood trembling and haggard, trying to comprehend his
+companion's words.
+
+"Wrong?" he said.  "Wrong?  What's wrong?"
+
+"I don't know yet.  Look sharp!  Run up to your wife's room.  Take the
+candle.  Quick, man; are you asleep?"
+
+In his dazed state Hallam staggered, and his hand trembled so that he
+could hardly keep the light anything like steady.  There was the
+knowledge, though faintly grasped, that something was terribly wrong.
+He gathered that from his companion's excited manner, and, stumbling on
+into the hall, blundered noisily up the stairs while Crellock stood
+breathing hard and listening.
+
+"Here, Millicent!  Julie!" he cried hoarsely; "what's the matter?"
+
+Crellock heard the lock handle turn, and the door thrown open so
+violently that it struck against the wall, but there was no reply from
+the voices of frightened women.
+
+"Do you hear?  Milly--Julie!  Why don't you answer?" came from above,
+and Crellock's harsh breathing became like the panting of some wild
+beast.
+
+For a few moments there was absolute silence; then the sound of
+stumbling, heavy steps, and Hallam came out on to the landing.
+
+"Steve!" he cried excitedly, perfectly sober now, "what is it?  What
+does it mean?  They've gone!"
+
+"I knew it," cried Crellock with a furious cry.  "I might have seen it
+if I had not been a fool.  Come down quick!  They've not gone far."
+
+Candle in hand, Hallam came staggering down the stairs with his eyes
+staring and his face blotched with patches of white.
+
+"They've gone," he stammered hoarsely.  "What for?  Where have they
+gone?"
+
+"Out into the dark night," cried Crellock furiously.  "There is only one
+way that they could go, and we must have them before they reach the
+town."
+
+"Town!" faltered Hallam; "town!" for in the horror of his waking and the
+conscience hauntings of the moment, he seemed to see two ghastly white
+faces looking up at him from the black waters of the harbour.
+
+"Yes, come along, follow me as quickly as you can," roared Crellock; and
+going swiftly through the dining-room he crossed the verandah and dashed
+out into the thick darkness that seemed to rise up as a protecting wall
+on behalf of those whom he pursued.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+THE FLIGHT.
+
+"I am so weak, my child," sighed Mrs Hallam, "that my heart fails me.
+What shall I do?"
+
+Julia stood over her dressed for flight, and a chill of despair seized
+her.
+
+"Oh, mother, try--try," she whispered.
+
+"I am trying, Julie.  I am fighting so hard, but you cannot realise the
+step I am trying to take; you cannot see it, my child, as it is spread
+before me."
+
+"Let us stay then," whispered Julie, "and to-morrow I will appeal to Sir
+Gordon to come to our help."
+
+"No," said Mrs Hallam, firmly, as if the words of her child had given
+her strength, "we can ask help of no one in such a strait as this,
+Julie; the act must be mine and mine alone; but now the time has come,
+my child, I feel that it is too much."
+
+"Mother!" sobbed Julie, "that man horrifies me.  You heard all that my
+father said.  I would sooner die than become his wife."
+
+Mrs Hallam caught her arm with a sharp grip, and remained silent for a
+few moments.  "Yes," she said at last, "and much as I love you, my own,
+I would sooner see you dead than married to such a man as he.  You have
+given me the courage I failed in, my darling.  For myself, I would live
+and bear until the end; but I am driven to it--I am driven to it.
+Come."
+
+They were standing in the dark, and now for the time being Mrs Hallam
+seemed transformed.  Gathering her cloak about her, she went quickly to
+the door and listened, and then turned and whispered to Julia.
+
+"Come at once," she said.  "Follow me down."  Julia drew a long breath
+and followed her, trembling, the boards of the lightly-built house
+cracking loudly as she passed quickly to the stairs.  And again in the
+silence and darkness these cracked as they passed down.
+
+In the hall Mrs Hallam hesitated for a moment, and then, putting her
+lips to Julia's ear:
+
+"Stop!" she whispered.
+
+Julia stood listening, and with her eyes strained towards where a light
+shone beneath the ill-fitting study-door from which, in the stillness,
+the heavy stertorous breathing of Hallam could be heard.  She could
+hear, too, the faint rustle of Mrs Hallam's dress as she paced along
+the hall; and as Julia gazed in the direction she had taken, the light
+that streamed from beneath, and some faint rays from the side, showed
+indistinctly a misty figure which sank down on its knees and remained
+for a few moments.
+
+The silence was awful to the trembling girl, who could not repress a
+faint cry as she heard a loud cough coming from beyond the dining-room.
+
+But she, too, drew her breath hard, and set her teeth as if the nearness
+of her enemy provoked her to desperate resistance, and she stood waiting
+there firmly, but wondering the while whether they would be able to
+escape or be stopped in the act of flight by Crellock, whom she knew to
+be watching there.
+
+She dare not call, though she felt that her mother was again overcome by
+the terrors of the step they had resolved to take, and the moments
+seemed interminable before there was a change in the light beneath the
+door, and a faint rustle mingled with the heavy breathing.  Then her
+hand was clasped by one like ice in its coldness, and, as if repeating
+the prayer she had been uttering, Julia heard her mother say in a faint
+whisper:
+
+"It is for her sake--for hers alone."
+
+Julia drew her into the drawing-room as they had planned, and closed the
+door.  Then Mrs Hallam seemed to breathe more freely.
+
+"The weakness has passed," she said softly.  "We must lose no time."
+
+They crossed the room carefully to where a dim light showed the French
+window to be, and Mrs Hallam laid her hand upon it firmly, and turned
+the fastening after slipping the bolt.
+
+"Keep a good heart, my darling," she said.  "You are not afraid?"
+
+"Not of our journey, mother," said Julia in agitated tones; "but of--a
+listener."
+
+"Hist!" whispered Mrs Hallam, drawing back; and the window which she
+had opened swung to with a faint click, as the firm pace of Crellock was
+heard coming along the verandah; and as they stood there in the darkness
+they could see the dim figure pass the window.
+
+Had he stretched forth a hand, he would have felt the glass door yield,
+and have entered and found them there; and, knowing this, they stood
+listening to the beating of their hearts till the figure passed on and
+they heard the step of the self-constituted sentry grow faint on the
+other side of the house.
+
+"Julie, are you ready?"
+
+"Yes, mother; let us go--anywhere, so that I may not see that man
+again."
+
+Mrs Hallam uttered a sigh of relief, for her child's words had supplied
+her once more with the power that was failing.
+
+"It is for her sake," she muttered again.  Then, in a low whisper:
+"Quick! your hand.  Come."  And they stepped out into the verandah, drew
+the door to without daring to stop to catch it, and the next minute they
+were threading their way amongst the trees of the garden, and making for
+the gate.
+
+The darkness was now intense, and though the faint twinkling of lights
+showed them the direction of the town, they had not gone far before they
+found themselves astray from the path, and after wandering here and
+there for a few minutes, Mrs Hallam paused in dread, for she found that
+there was now another enemy in her way upon which she had not counted.
+
+She spoke very calmly, though, as Julia uttered a gasp.
+
+"The wind is rising," she said, "and it will soon grow lighter.  Let us
+keep on."
+
+They walked on slowly and cautiously in and out among the trees of what
+was, in the darkness, a complete wilderness.  At times they were
+struggling through bushes that impeded their progress, and though time
+after time the track seemed to be found, they were deceived.  It was as
+if Nature were fighting against them to keep them within reach of Hallam
+and his friend, and, though they toiled on, a second hour had elapsed
+and found them still astray.
+
+But now, as they climbed a steep slope, the wind came with a gust, the
+clouds were chased before it, there was the glint of a star or two, and
+Mrs Hallam uttered an exclamation.
+
+"There!" she cried, "to the left.  I can see the lights now."
+
+Catching Julia's hand more firmly, she hurried on, for the night was now
+comparatively light, but neither uttered a word of their thoughts as
+they gave a frightened glance back at a dim object on the hill behind,
+for they awoke to the fact that they had been wandering round and about
+the hill and gully, returning on their steps, and were not five hundred
+yards away from their starting-point.
+
+At the end of a quarter of an hour the stars were out over half the
+vault of heaven, and to their great joy the path was found--the rough
+track leading over the unoccupied land to the town.
+
+"Courage! my child," whispered Mrs Hallam; "another hour or two and we
+shall be there."
+
+"I am trying to be brave, dear," whispered back Julia as the track
+descended into another gully; "but this feeling of dread seems to chill
+me, and--oh! listen!"
+
+Mrs Hallam stopped, and plainly enough behind them there was the sound
+of bushes rustling; but the sound ceased directly.
+
+"Some animal--that is all," said Mrs Hallam, and they passed on.
+
+Once more they heard the sound, and then, as they were ascending a
+little eminence before descending another of the undulations of the
+land, there came the quick beat of feet, and mother and daughter had
+joined in a convulsive grasp.
+
+"We are followed," panted Mrs Hallam.  "We must hide."
+
+As she spoke they were on the summit of the slope, with their figures
+against the sky-line to any one below, and in proof of this there was a
+shout from a short distance below, and a cry of "Stop!"
+
+"Crellock!" muttered Mrs Hallam, and she glanced from side to side for
+a place of concealment, but only to see that the attempt to hide would
+be only folly.
+
+"Can you run, Julie?" she whispered.
+
+For answer Julia started off, and for about a hundred yards they ran
+down the slope, and then stopped, panting.  They could make no further
+effort save that of facing their pursuer, who dashed down to them
+breathless.
+
+"A pretty foolish trick," he cried.  "Mercy I found you gone, and came.
+What did you expect would become of you out here in the night?"
+
+"Loose my hand," cried Julia angrily; "I will not come back."
+
+"Indeed, but you will, little wifie.  There, it's of no use to struggle;
+you are mine, and must."
+
+"Julia, hold by me," cried Mrs Hallam frantically.  "Help!"
+
+"Hah!"
+
+That ejaculation was from Crellock, for as Mrs Hallam's appeal for help
+rang out amongst the trees of the gully into which they had descended,
+there was the dull sound of a heavy blow, and their assailant fell with
+a crash amongst the low growth of scrub.
+
+"This way," said a familiar voice.  "Do you want to join Thisbe King?"
+
+"Yes, yes," cried Julia, sobbing now; "but how did you know?"
+
+"How did I know!" was the reply, half sadly, half laughingly.  "Oh, I
+have played the spy: waiting till you wanted help."
+
+"Christie Bayle!" wailed Mrs Hallam; "my friend in need."
+
+He did not answer.  He hardly heard her words as Mrs Hallam staggered
+on by his side, for two little hands were clinging to his arm, Julia's
+head was resting against him, as she nestled closer and closer, and his
+heart beat madly, for it seemed to him as if it was in his breast that
+Julia Hallam would seek for safety in her time of need.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+IN SANCTUARY.
+
+"Let them come if they dare, my dear," said Thisbe stoutly.  "I've only
+waited for this.  You know how I've never said word against him, but
+have seen and borne everything."
+
+"Yes, yes," sighed Mrs Hallam.
+
+"For, I said to myself, the day will come when she will see everything
+in its true light, and then--"
+
+Thisbe said no more, but cut her sentence in half by closing her lips
+more tightly than they had ever been closed before, as, with a smile,
+she busied herself about Julia and her mother.
+
+"I was in a way last night," she said cheerily, as she straightened
+first one thing and then another in the modest lodgings she had secured,
+"but I daren't come away for fear you might get here while I was looking
+for you.  You don't know the relief I felt when Mr Bayle knocked at the
+door with you two poor tired things.  There, you needn't say a word,
+only be quiet and rest."
+
+Thisbe nodded from one to the other, and smiled as if there was not a
+trouble in the world.  Then she stood rolling up her apron, and
+moistening her lips, as if there was something she wanted to say but
+hesitated.  At last she went to Mrs Hallam's side, and took hold of the
+sleeve of her dress.
+
+"Let me go and ask Mr Bayle to take berths for you on board the first
+ship that's going to sail, and get taken away from this dreadful place."
+
+Mrs Hallam gazed at her wistfully, but did not answer for a few
+moments.
+
+"I must think, Thibs," she said.  "_I_ must think; and now I cannot, for
+I feel as if I am stunned."
+
+"Then lie down a bit, my dear Miss Milly.  Do, dear.  She ought to,
+oughtn't she, Miss Julie?  There, I knew she would.  It's to make her
+strong."
+
+It was as if old girlish days had come back, for Mrs Hallam yielded
+with a sigh to the stronger will of the faithful old servant, letting
+her lift and lay her down, and closing her eyes with a weary sigh.
+
+"Now I may go to Mr Bayle, mayn't I?"
+
+"No," said Mrs Hallam sternly.
+
+"Then to Sir Gordon, and ask him to help us?"
+
+"No," said Mrs Hallam again; "I must work alone in this--and I will."
+
+She closed her eyes, and in a few minutes seemed to have dropped off
+asleep, when Thisbe signed to Julia to accompany her out of the room.
+
+"Don't you fret and trouble yourself, my darling," she whispered.  "I'll
+take care no one comes and troubles you.  She's worn out with suffering,
+and no doctor would do her good, or we'd soon have the best in the town.
+What she wants is rest and peace, and your dear loving hands to hold
+her.  If anything will ease her that's it."
+
+She kissed Julia, and the next moment the girl's arms were clasped about
+her neck, and she sobbed upon her breast.
+
+"It's so terrible," she cried.  "I can't bear it!  I can't bear it!  I
+tried so hard to love him, but--but--"
+
+"An angel with wings couldn't have loved such a father as that, my
+dear."
+
+"Thibs!"
+
+"Well, there, then, I won't say much, my darling; but don't you fret.
+You've both done quite right, for there's a pynte beyond which no one
+can go."
+
+"But if we could win him back to--"
+
+"Make you marry that man Crellock!  Oh, my darling, there's no winning
+him back.  I said nothing and stood by you both to let you try, and I
+was ready to forgive everything; but oh, my pet!  I knew how bad it all
+was from the very first."
+
+"No, no, Thibs, you didn't think him guilty when he was sent out here."
+
+"Think, my dear!  No: I knew it, and so did Sir Gordon and Mr Bayle,
+but for her sake they let her go on believing in him.  Oh! my dear, only
+that there's you here, I want to know why such a man was ever allowed to
+live."
+
+"Thibs, he is my father," cried Julia angrily.
+
+"Yes, my dear, and there's no changing it, much as I've thought about
+it."
+
+Julia stood thinking.
+
+"I shall go to him," she said at last, "with you, and tell him why we
+have left him.  I feel, Thibs, as if I must ask him to forgive me, for I
+am his child."
+
+"You wait a bit, my dear, and then talk about forgiveness by-and-by.
+You've got to stay with your poor mother now.  Why, if you left her on
+such an errand as that, what would happen if he kept you, and wouldn't
+let you come back?"
+
+Julia's eyes dilated, and her careworn face grew paler.
+
+"He would not do that."
+
+"He and that Crellock would do anything, I believe.  There, you can't do
+that now.  You've got to sit and watch by her."
+
+"Julia!" came in an excited voice from the next room.
+
+"There, what did I tell you, my dear?" said Thisbe; and she hurried
+Julia back and closed the door.
+
+"They'll go back and forgive him if he only comes and begs them to, and
+he'll finish breaking her heart," said Thisbe, as she went down.  "Oh,
+there never was anything so dreadful as a woman's weakness when once she
+has loved a man.  But go back they shall not if I can help it, and what
+to do for the best I don't know."
+
+She went into the little sitting-room, seated herself, and began rolling
+her apron up tightly, as she rocked herself to and fro, and all the time
+kept on biting her lips.
+
+"I daren't," she said.  "She would never forgive me if she knew.  No, I
+couldn't."
+
+She went on rocking herself to and fro.
+
+"I will--I will do it.  It's right, for it's to save them; it's to save
+her life, poor dear, and my darling from misery."
+
+She started from her chair, wringing her hands, and with her face
+convulsed, ending by falling on her knees with clasped hands.
+
+"Oh, please God, no," she cried, "don't--don't suffer that--that darling
+child to be dragged down to such a fate.  I couldn't bear it.  I'd
+sooner die!  For ever and ever.  Amen."
+
+She sobbed as she crouched lower and lower, suffering an agony of spirit
+greater than had ever before fallen to her lot, and then rose, calm and
+composed, to wipe her eyes.
+
+"I'll do it, and if it's wicked may I be forgiven.  I can't bear it, and
+there's only that before he puts the last straw on."
+
+There was a loud tap at the door just then, evidently given by a hard
+set of knuckles.
+
+"It's them!" cried Thisbe excitedly; "it's them!"  The door was locked
+and bolted, and she glanced round the room as if in search of a weapon.
+Then going to the window, she looked sidewise through the panes, and her
+hard, angry face softened a little, and she opened the window.
+
+"How did you know I was wanting you to come?"
+
+Tom Porter's hard brown face lit up with delight.  "Was you?" he cried;
+"was you, Thisbe?  Lor'! how nice it looks to see you in a little house
+like this, and me coming to the door; but you might let me in.  Are you
+all alone?"
+
+"Don't you get running your thick head up against a wall, Tom Porter, or
+you'll hurt it.  And now, look here, don't you get smirking at me again
+in that way, or off you go about your business, and I'll never look at
+you again."
+
+"But Thisbe, my dear, I only--"
+
+"Don't only, then," she said, in a fierce whisper; "and don't growl like
+that, or you'll frighten them as is upstairs into thinking it's some one
+else."
+
+"All right, my lass; all right.  Only you are very hard on a man.  You
+was hard at King's Castor, you was harder up at Clerkenwell, while now
+we're out here rocks is padded bulkheads to you."
+
+"I can't help it, Tom; I'm in trouble," said Thisbe more gently.
+
+"Are you, my lass?  Well, let me pilot you out."
+
+"Yes, I think you shall," she said, "I wanted you to come."
+
+"Now, that's pleasant," said Tom Porter, smiling; "and it does me good,
+for the way in which I wants to help you, Thisbe, is a wonder even to
+me."
+
+"Oh, yes, I know," she said grimly.  "Now then, why did you come?"
+
+"You said you wanted me."
+
+"Yes; but tell me first why you came."
+
+"The Admiral sent me to say that he was waiting for the missus's
+commands, and might he come down and see her on very partic'lar
+business?  He couldn't write, his hand's all a shake, and he ain't been
+asleep all night."
+
+"Tell him, and tell Mr Bayle, too, that my mistress begs that she may
+be left alone for the present.  She says she will send to them if she
+wants their help."
+
+"Right it is," said Tom Porter.  "Now then, what did _you_ want along o'
+me?"
+
+Thisbe's face hardened and then grew convulsed, and the tears sprang to
+her eyes.  Then it seemed to harden up again, and she took hold of Tom
+Porter's collar and whispered to him quickly.
+
+"Phe-ew!" whistled Sir Gordon's man.
+
+She went on whispering in an excited way.
+
+"Yes, I understand," he said.
+
+She whispered to him again more earnestly than ever.
+
+"Yes.  Not tell a soul--and only if--"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Only if--"
+
+"Yes, yes," whispered Thisbe.  "Mind, I depend upon you."
+
+"If Tom Porter's a living soul," he replied, "it's done.  But you do
+mean it?"
+
+"I mean it," said Thisbe King.  "Now go."
+
+"One moment, my lass," he said.  "I've been very humble, and humble I
+am; but when this trouble's over and smooth water comes, will you?"
+
+Thisbe did not answer for a few moments, and then it was in a softened
+voice.
+
+"Tom Porter," she said, "there's one upstairs half dead with misery, and
+her darling child suffering more than words can tell.  My poor heart's
+full of them; don't ask me now."
+
+Tom Porter gave his lips a smart slap and hurried down the street, while
+Thisbe closed the window and went back to her chair, to rock herself to
+and fro again, with her hands busily rolling and unrolling her apron.
+
+"I've done it," she said; "but it all rests on him.  It's his own
+doing."
+
+Then, after a pause:
+
+"How long will it be before they find out where we are?  Not long.
+Hah!"
+
+Thisbe King passed her hands up and down her bare brawny arms, and her
+face tightened for the encounter which she felt must come before long.
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+THE BLOW FALLS.
+
+It was close upon evening before the trouble Thisbe expected came.  Tom
+Porter had been again, tapped at the door, and when Thisbe went to the
+window he had contorted his face in the most horrible manner, closing
+his left eye, and then walked off without a word.
+
+Thisbe watched till he was out of sight, and then returned to her chair.
+
+"He's to be trusted," she said to herself.  "It's a pity he wants to
+marry me.  We're much better as we are; and who knows but what he might
+turn wild?  There's only one thing in his favour, he ain't a handsome
+man."
+
+Now Tom Porter at fifty looked to be about the last person in the world
+to turn wild, but Thisbe's experiences had done much to harden her
+virgin heart.
+
+At least a dozen times over she had slipped off her shoes and ascended
+the stairs to find that, utterly exhausted, Mrs Hallam and Julia were
+sleeping heavily, the latter on a chair, with her arms clasped about her
+mother's neck.
+
+"Poor dears!" said Thisbe, as she descended; "I daren't wake them, but
+they ought to have a cup of tea."
+
+"Ah," she exclaimed softly, "what would she say?  I shall never dare to
+look her in the face again."
+
+At last the trouble came.
+
+"I knew it," said Thisbe, as she heard the steps at the door.  "He was
+bound to find us.  Yes, they're both there.  Well, it's his own work and
+not mine.  What shall I do?"
+
+She rose from her chair, looking very resolute.  "I'll face them bold.
+It's the only way."
+
+She heard the murmur of men's voices, and then there was a rap at the
+door given with the handle of a whip.  She went to the door, unfastened
+and threw it open.
+
+"What is it?" she said.
+
+Hallam and Crellock were on the threshold, and the latter exclaimed, as
+soon as he saw her:
+
+"I thought so."
+
+They stepped in quickly, and Thisbe's lips tightened as she was forced
+to back before them, and the door swung to.
+
+"Where is your mistress?" said Hallam sharply.
+
+"Asleep.  Worn out and ill."
+
+"Where's my daughter?"
+
+"With her mother: upstairs."
+
+"I'll soon have an end of this fooling," he exclaimed; and as Thisbe
+stood with her arms folded, she seemed to see a flash of the old look
+she remembered--the look she hated--when they were at Castor years
+before.
+
+Hallam threw open the door at the foot of the narrow staircase, while
+Crellock seated himself astride a chair with his hat on and beat his
+boot with his whip.
+
+"Millicent!  Julie!" cried Hallam fiercely, and there were footsteps
+heard above, for the arrival had awakened those who slept.  "Come down
+at once."
+
+He let the door swing to and began to pace the little room, muttering to
+himself, and evidently furious with rage at his wife's desertion.
+
+Crellock watched him from the corner of his eyes, and from time to time
+unconsciously applied his hand to a great discolouration on the cheek.
+He was evidently quite satisfied, for Hallam needed no egging on to the
+task, and he felt that this episode would hasten his marriage.
+
+"Are you coming?" cried Hallam, after a few minutes, and as he flung
+back the door, that of the bedroom was heard to open, and Mrs Hallam
+and Julia came down, both very pale, but with a firmness in their
+countenances that sent a thrill of joy through Thisbe.
+
+"There you are then," cried Hallam, as they stood before him.  "Ah!
+I've a good mind to--"
+
+He raised his hand and made a feint as if to strike the pale, suffering
+woman.  With a cry of horror, Julia flung herself between them, her eyes
+flashing, her dread gone, and in its place, indignant horror sweeping
+away the last feeling of pity and compunction for the brutalised man to
+whom she owed her birth.
+
+"Now then," cried Hallam.  "You've both had your fool's game out, so put
+on your bonnets and come home."  Mrs Hallam passed her hand round Julia
+and remained silent.
+
+"Do you hear?" cried Hallam.  "I say, put on your things and come home.
+As for you, madam, you shall have a home of your own, and a husband,
+before you know where you are.  Come; stir!" he cried, with a stamp.
+"This is my home," said Mrs Hallam, sternly.  "What!"
+
+"Robert Hallam, the last thread that bound me to you is broken," she
+continued, in a calm, judicial voice.  "We are separated for ever."
+
+"You're mad," cried Hallam, with a laugh.  "Come, no nonsense, ma'am!
+Don't make a scene, for I'm not in the humour to put up with much.  Come
+out of this house or--"
+
+He made a step or two towards the door, for Thisbe had thrown it open,
+having seen Bayle pass the window with Sir Gordon.  Then he seized the
+door to fling it in their faces; but Thisbe held it firmly, and they
+walked in, Hallam himself giving way.
+
+"Coward!" snarled Crellock in his ear, as he started up, whip in hand.
+
+"Mrs Hallam," said Sir Gordon, "you must forgive this intrusion.  I am
+sure we are wanted here."
+
+"Wanted here!" cried Hallam savagely; "no, you are not wanted here.
+I'll have no more interferences from such as you; you've both been the
+curse of my life."
+
+Sir Gordon turned upon him with a calm look of disgust and contempt,
+which at another time would have made him quail; but, fevered with
+brandy as he was, the effect was to make him more beside himself.
+
+"As you are here, both of you, let me tell you this: that I don't kick
+you out because one of you is a weak, doddering old idiot, the other--
+oh, his cloth must protect Mr Bayle.  Now what do you want?"
+
+"Be calm, Julia," whispered Bayle.  "No harm shall befall either of
+you."
+
+Crellock advanced menacingly, but Sir Gordon interposed.
+
+"Mrs Hallam, as your father's old friend, I must interfere for your
+protection now."
+
+"Must you?" cried Hallam fiercely, "then I tell you that you won't.
+This is my house, taken by my wife.  That is my wife.  That is my child,
+and in a few days she will be the wife of this gentleman, my oldest
+friend.  Now go.  Millicent--Julie--get on your things, and come, or, by
+all that's holy, we'll drag you through the streets."
+
+Julia clung to Bayle, and turned her flushed face to him as if asking
+help; while, with a look of calm contempt, he patted the hand he held,
+and glanced at Mrs Hallam, for something seemed to warn him that the
+crisis had arrived.
+
+"I have told you, Robert Hallam," she said, in a calm, firm voice, that
+grew in strength as she went on, "that from this hour we are separated,
+never to be man and wife again.  I clung to you in all a woman's proud
+faith in her husband.  I loved you as dearly as woman could love.  When
+you were condemned of all, I defended you, and believed you honest."
+
+"Bah!" he exclaimed; "enough of this!" and he took a step forward, but
+quailed before her gaze.
+
+"You crushed my love.  You made me your wretched innocent tool and slave
+when you brought me here, and at last you brutally told me all the cruel
+truth.  Even then, heartbroken, I clung to you, and suffered in silence.
+God knows how I tried to bring you to penitence and a better life.  I
+forgave all for the sake of our child; and in my love for her I would
+have gone on bearing all."
+
+"Have you nearly done?" he said mockingly.
+
+"Nearly," she said, in the same firm, clear tones; and she seemed to
+tower above him, pale and noble of aspect, while he, drink-brutalised
+and blotched, seemed to shrink.
+
+"I say I would have borne everything, even if you had beaten me like a
+dog.  But when--oh, my God, judge between us and forgive me if I have
+done wrong!--when I am called upon to see my innocent child dragged down
+by you to the fate of being the wife of the villain who has been your
+partner in all your crimes, my soul revolts, and I say--from this hour
+all between us is at an end."
+
+"And I say," he yelled, "that you are my wife, this my child, and you
+shall obey me.  Come; I am master here."
+
+He made a snatch at her arm, but she raised it before him, with
+outstretched palm, and her voice rang out with a cry that made him
+shrink and cower.
+
+"Stop!"
+
+There was a moment's utter silence, broken by the softly heard tramp of
+feet.
+
+"Husband no longer, father of my child no more.  Robert Hallam, you are
+my convict servant!  I discharge you.  Leave this house!"
+
+Hallam took a step back, literally stunned by the words of the outraged
+woman, who for so long a time had been his slave, while Bayle uttered a
+long sighing sound as if relieved of some terrible weight.
+
+For a time no one spoke, but all turned from gazing on the prominent
+figure of that group, to Hallam, who stood clenching and unclenching his
+hands, and gasping as if trying to recover from the shock he had
+received.
+
+He essayed to speak as he glared at Mrs Hallam, and scowled at her as
+if each look were an arrow to wound and bring her to his feet humbled
+and appealing as of old; but the arrows glanced from the armour of
+indignant maternal love with which she was clothed; and, drawn up to her
+full height, scornful and defiant as she seemed, her look absolutely
+made him quail.
+
+_Tramp--tramp--tramp--tramp_.
+
+The regular march of disciplined men coming nearer and nearer, but heard
+by none within that room, as Crellock, with a coarse laugh, bent
+forward, and whispered in his companion's ear:
+
+"Why, man, are you going to submit to this?"
+
+"No!" roared Hallam, as if his gang-companion's words had broken a
+spell.  "No!  The woman's mad!  Julia, you are my child.  Come here!"
+
+Julia met the eyes that were fixed fiercely upon her, and stepped
+forward.
+
+Bayle tried to arrest her, but she raised her hand to keep him back, and
+then placed it on her father's arm, trembling and looking white.  Then
+she reached up, and kissed him solemnly upon the cheek.
+
+"There, gentlemen," he cried triumphantly.  "You see.  Now, wife--my
+wife, come to your convict servant--come--home."
+
+He passed his arm round Julia's waist, and signed to Crellock to come
+forward, but his child glided from his grasp.
+
+"Good-bye--father--good-bye--for ever."
+
+He made a snatch at her hand; but she had gone, and was clinging to
+Bayle.
+
+Hallam uttered a fierce oath, and then listened: stopped short with his
+head wrenched round to gaze at the door.
+
+For at that moment the tramp of feet reached the entrance, and a voice
+rang out:
+
+"Halt!"
+
+There was the rattle of muskets on the path, and as, ghastly of face,
+and with starting eyes, Robert Hallam saw in imagination the interior of
+the prison, the grim convict dress, the chains, and the lash, the door
+was thrown open, and Captain Otway entered, followed by a sergeant and a
+file of the convict guard, a squad remaining outside, drawn up before
+the house.
+
+Otway glanced round, his brow furrowed, and his lips tightened, as his
+eyes fell on Mrs Hallam and her child.
+
+It was but a momentary emotion.  Then the stern military precision
+asserted itself, and he said quickly:
+
+"Robert Hallam, number 874, assigned servant, I arrest you for breaking
+the terms of your pass.  Sergeant, remove this man."
+
+Two men stepped to Hallam's side on the instant.
+
+"Curse you," he yelled, as he started forward to reach his wife, but a
+strong hand on either arm stayed him.  "This is your work."
+
+She shook her head slowly, and Julia darted to her side, for the
+firmness that had sustained her so far was failing fast.
+
+"No," she said slowly; "it is no work of mine."
+
+"Then I have to thank my dear friend the Baronet here," he cried with a
+vindictive look at Sir Gordon.
+
+"No, Hallam.  I have known for months past that you have been living in
+wild excess on the money you stole from me, but I spared you for others'
+sake."
+
+"Oh, I see, then," cried Hallam, turning to Bayle; "it was you--you
+beggarly professor of--"
+
+"Stay your reproaches," cried Bayle sternly.  "I could not have taken
+steps against you had I wished."
+
+"If it'll make it easier for Mr Hallam to know who gave information
+again him," said a voice at the door, "it was me."
+
+"Tom Porter!" cried Sir Gordon.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Remove your prisoner," said Captain Otway sternly.  Crellock stepped
+forward with a blustering swagger.
+
+"Am I included in this?" he said.
+
+"No, sir," said Captain Otway sternly.  "I have no orders about you--at
+present.  Take my advice and go."  Crellock made a step toward Julia,
+but she shrank from him in horror, and the next minute he was literally
+forced out by the soldiers with their prisoner, the door closed, and a
+low, wailing voice arose:
+
+"Julia!"
+
+"Mother, dear mother, I am here," cried Julia, kneeling and supporting
+the stricken woman on her breast.
+
+"Hold me, my darling, tightly," she moaned.  "It is growing dark--is
+this the end?"
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+THE GOOD THAT WAS IN HIM.
+
+"Hi!  Sir Gordon!"
+
+The old gentleman turned as a big-bearded man cantered up over the rough
+land by the track, some six months after the prison gates had closed
+upon Robert Hallam.
+
+"Oh, it's you!" said Sir Gordon, shading his eyes from the blazing sun.
+"Well?"
+
+"Don't be rough on a fellow, Sir Gordon.  I've been a big blackguard, I
+know, but somehow I never had a chance from the first.  I want to do the
+right thing now."
+
+"Humph!  Pretty well time," said the old man.  "Well, what is it?"
+
+The man hesitated as if struggling with shame, and he thought himself
+weak, but he struck his boot heavily with his whip, and took off his
+broad felt hat.
+
+"I'll do it," he said sharply to himself.  Then, aloud: "Look here, sir,
+I'm sick of it."
+
+"Humph! then you'd better leave it," said the old man with an angry
+sneer.  "Go and give yourself up, and join your old companion."
+
+"That's rough!" said Crellock with a grim smile.  "How hard you good
+people can be on a fellow when he's down!"
+
+"What have you ever done to deserve anything else, you scoundrel?" cried
+Sir Gordon fiercely.  "Twenty thousand pounds of my money you and your
+rogue of a companion had, and I'm tramping through this blazing sun,
+while you ride a blood horse."
+
+"Take the horse then," said Crellock good-humouredly.  "I don't want
+it!"
+
+"You know I'm too old to ride it, you dog, or you wouldn't offer it."
+
+"There, you see, when a fellow does want to turn over a new leaf you
+good people won't let him."
+
+"Won't let him?  Where's your book and where's your leaf?"
+
+"Book?  Oh, I'm the book, Sir Gordon, and you won't listen to what's on
+the leaf."
+
+Sir Gordon seated himself on a great tussock of soft grass, took out his
+gold-rimmed glasses, put them on deliberately and stared up at the
+great, fine-looking, bronzed man.
+
+"Hah!" he said at last.  "You, a man who can talk like that!  Why, you
+might have been a respectable member of society, and here you are--"
+
+"Out on pass in a convict settlement.  Say it, Sir Gordon.  Well, what
+wonder?  It all began with Hallam when I was a weak young fool, and
+thought him with his good looks and polished ways a sort of hero.  I got
+into trouble with him; he escaped because I wouldn't tell tales, and I
+had to bear the brunt, and after that I never had a chance."
+
+"Ah, there was a nice pair of you."
+
+Crellock groaned and seemed about to turn away, but the man's good
+genius had him tightly gripped that day, and he smiled again.
+
+"Don't be hard on me, Sir Gordon.  I want to say something to you.  I
+was going to your friend, Mr Christie Bayle, but--I couldn't do that."
+
+Sir Gordon watched him curiously.
+
+"You haven't turned bushranger, then?  You're not going to rob me?"
+
+"No," said Crellock grimly.  "Haven't I robbed you enough!"
+
+"Humph!  Well?"
+
+"Ah, that's better," said Crellock; "now you'll listen to me.  The fact
+is, sir, I've been thinking, since I've been living all alone, that
+forty isn't too old for a man to begin again."
+
+"Too old?  No, man.  Why, I'm--there, never mind how old.  Older than
+that, and I'm going to begin again.  Forty!  Why, you're a boy!"
+
+"Well, Sir Gordon, I'm going to begin the square.  I gave up the drink
+because--there, never mind why," he said huskily.  "I had a reason, and
+now I'm going to make a start."
+
+"Well, go and do it, then.  What are you going to do?"
+
+"Oh, get up the country, sir, stockman or shepherding."
+
+"Wolfing, you mean, sir."
+
+"Oh, no, I don't, Sir Gordon," said Crellock, laughing.  "There's plenty
+of work to be got, and I like horses and cattle better than I do men
+now."
+
+"Well, look here," said Sir Gordon testily; "I don't believe you."
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"I don't believe you, sir.  If you meant all this you'd have gone and
+begun it instead of talking.  There, be off.  I'm hot and tired, and
+want to be alone."  Crellock frowned again, but his good genius gave him
+another grip of the shoulder, and the smile came back.  "You don't
+understand me yet, Sir Gordon," he said.  "No, I never shall."
+
+"I wanted to tell you, sir, that since Hallam was taken, I've been
+living up in the Gully House.  I'd nowhere else to go, and I was
+desperate like.  I thought every day that you or somebody would come and
+take possession, but no one did.  Law seems all anyhow out here.  Then
+the days went on.  This horse had been down--sprained leg from a bad
+jump."
+
+"Confound your horse, sir!  I don't want to hear your stable twaddle,"
+cried Sir Gordon.
+
+Crellock seemed to swallow a lump in his throat, and paused, but he went
+on after a while:
+
+"The poor brute was a deal hurt, and tending and bandaging his leg
+seemed to do me good like.  Then I used to send one of the blacks to
+town for food."
+
+"And drink?" said Sir Gordon acidly.
+
+"No--for tea; and I've lived up there with the horses ever since.
+There's--"
+
+"Well, why don't you go on, man?"
+
+"Give me time," said Crellock, who had stopped short.  "There's Miss
+Hallam's mare there, too.  She was very fond of that mare," he added
+huskily.
+
+Sir Gordon's eyes seemed half shut, as he watched the man and noted the
+changes in his voice.
+
+"Well, sir, I've lived there six months now, and nobody has taken any
+notice.  There's the furniture and the house, and there's a whole lot of
+money left yet of what Mrs Hallam brought over."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well! why, Sir Gordon, it's all yours, of course, and I've been waiting
+for weeks to have this talk to you.  I couldn't come to the cottage."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+Crellock shook his head.
+
+"No, I couldn't come there.  I've laid in wait for you when you were
+going down to your boat for a sail, but that Tom Porter was always with
+you; and I didn't want to write.  I didn't think you'd come if I did.
+You'd have thought it was a plant, and set the authorities after me, and
+I didn't want that because I've had enough of convict life."
+
+"Humph!  Well, what do you want me to do?"
+
+"Come and take possession, Sir Gordon, and have the house taken care of.
+There's her mare there, you see.  Then there's the money; no one but
+Hallam and me knows where it's hidden.  I shouldn't like the place to
+fall into anybody's hands."
+
+"But you?  You want to give all this up to me?"
+
+"Of course, sir.  It's all yours.  It was the bank money that bought
+everything."
+
+"And what are you going to do?"
+
+"Oh, I'm sick of it all, sir, and I want to start clear.  I shall go up
+the country.  I think I'm a clever stockman."
+
+"And you give up everything?"
+
+The man set his teeth.
+
+"Yes, sir," he said, firmly, as he turned and patted the horse's neck as
+it stood close by, cropping the tender shoots of a bush; and it raised
+its head and laid its muzzle in his hand.  "I should like you to see
+that Joey here had a good master.  I threw him down once, and doctoring
+seemed to make him fond of me.  He's a good horse.  It's a pity you're
+too old to ride."
+
+"Confound you! how dare you?" cried Sir Gordon.
+
+"I'm not too old to ride, sir.  I--I--" he started up with his lip
+quivering.  "Here! here! sit down, Crellock.  Confound you, sir, I never
+met with such a scoundrel in all my life!"
+
+Crellock looked at him curiously, and then, throwing the bridle on the
+ground, he sat down, while Sir Gordon paced up and down in a quick,
+fidgety walk.
+
+"Have you got anything more to say, sir?" he cried at last.
+
+Crellock was silent for a few moments, and then, drawing a long breath,
+he said:
+
+"How is Mrs Hallam, sir?"
+
+"Dying," said Sir Gordon, shortly.  "It is a matter of days.  Well, is
+that all?"
+
+There was another interval before Crellock spoke.
+
+"Will you take a message for me, sir, to those up yonder?"
+
+"No!--Yes."
+
+The words would not come for some moments, and when they did come they
+were very husky.
+
+"I want you to ask Mrs Hallam to forgive me my share of the past."
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"No, Sir Gordon.  Tell Miss Julia that for her sake I did give up the
+drink; that I'm going up now into the bush; that for her sake I'm doing
+all this; and that I shall never forget the gentle face that bent over
+me outside the prison walls."
+
+He turned to go, and had gone a score of yards, walking quickly, but
+with the horse following, when Sir Gordon called out:
+
+"Stop!"
+
+Crellock stood still, and Sir Gordon walked up to him slowly.
+
+"You are right, Crellock," he said in a quiet, changed tone.  "I believe
+you.  You never had a chance."
+
+He held out his hand, which the other did not take.
+
+"Shake hands, man."
+
+"I am a convict, sir," said Crellock proudly.
+
+"Shake hands," cried Sir Gordon firmly; and he took the strong, brown
+hand, slowly raised.
+
+"There is my forgiveness for the past--and--yes--that of the truest,
+sweetest woman I ever knew.  Now, as to your future, do as you say, go
+into the bush and take up land--new land in this new country, and begin
+your new life.  I shall touch nothing at the Gully House--place, horses,
+money, they are yours."
+
+"Mine?" exclaimed Crellock.
+
+"Yes; I have more than ever I shall want; and as to that money which I
+had always looked upon as lost, if it makes you into what you say you
+will strive to be, it is the best investment I ever made."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Good-bye."
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+OVERHEARD.
+
+Sir Gordon Bourne looked ten years younger as he walked towards the
+cottage on the bluff.  The hill was steep to climb, and the sun was
+torrid in its heat; but he forgot the discomfort and climbed higher and
+higher till he reached the rough fence that surrounded the grounds, and
+there stood, with his hat off, wiping his brow and gazing at the
+glorious prospect of sea and land.
+
+"I feel almost like a good fairy this morning," he said, with a laugh.
+"Ah! how beautiful it all is, and what a pity that such an Eden should
+be made the home of England's worst."
+
+He opened the rough gate and entered the grounds, that were admirably
+kept by a couple of convict servants, watched over by Tom Porter,
+crossed a patch of lawn, and was about to go up to the house, but a
+pleasantly-placed rustic seat, beneath the shelter of a gum-tree, and
+nearly surrounded by Austral shrubs, emitting their curious aromatic
+scent in the hot sunshine, tempted him to rest; and in a few minutes,
+overcome by the exertions of the morning, his head bowed down upon his
+breast, and he dropped into a light doze.
+
+He was aroused by voices--one low, deep, and earnest, the other low and
+deep, but silvery and sweet, and with a tender ring in it that brought
+up memories of a little, low-roofed drawing-room in the quiet
+Lincolnshire town; and a curious dimness came over the old man's eyes.
+
+The speakers were behind him, hidden by a veil of soft grey-green
+leaves; and as Sir Gordon involuntarily listened, one voice said in
+trembling tones:
+
+"I dared not even look forward to such an end."
+
+"But ever since others began to set me thinking of such things, I have
+waited, for I used to say, some day he will ask me to be his wife."
+
+"And you loved me, Julie?"
+
+"Loved you?  Did you not know?"
+
+"But like this?"
+
+"Like this?  Always; for when you came, all trouble seemed to go, and I
+felt that I was safe."
+
+The voices paused, and Sir Gordon sat up, leaning upon his stick and
+thinking aloud.
+
+"Well, I have always hoped it would be so--no, not always; and now it
+seems as if he were going to rob me of a child."
+
+He sat gazing straight before him, seeing nothing of the soft blue sea
+and sky, nor the many shades of grey and green that rolled before his
+eyes, for they were filled with the face of Julia Hallam.
+
+"Yes," he said at last.  "Why not?  Ah, Bayle!  Where is Julie?"
+
+"With her mother now.  Sir Gordon--"
+
+"Hush!  I know.  I've nought to say but this: God bless you both!"
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.
+
+REST.
+
+There had been some talk of a speedy return to the old country, but the
+doctor shook his head.
+
+"Let her live her few hours in rest and peace," he said.  "It would be
+madness to attempt such a thing."  And so all thought of the journey
+home was set aside, and Mrs Hallam was borne up to the cottage.
+
+In her weakness she had protested, but Sir Gordon had quietly said:
+
+"Am I your father's oldest friend?"  And then: "Have I not a right to
+insist--for Julie's sake?"
+
+She yielded, and the cottage for the next few months became their home,
+Bayle going down into the town, spending much of his time amongst the
+convicts and seeing a good deal of the Otways.
+
+"That's how it's going to be," said Mrs Otway.  "I always said so,
+Jack."
+
+"Nonsense! he's old enough to be her father."
+
+"Perhaps so in years; but he's about the youngest man in his ways I ever
+knew, while she is old and staid for her age."
+
+"Time proves all things," said Captain Otway.  "Phil won't get her,
+that's certain."
+
+"No; that's all over, and he is not breaking his heart about her, in
+spite of all the fuss at first.  Well, I'm glad for some things; I shall
+be able to look Lady Eaton in the face."
+
+"A task you would very well have fulfilled, even if he had married Julia
+Hallam.  It would take a very big Lady Eaton to frighten you, my dear.
+Been up to see Mrs Hallam to-day?"
+
+The lady nodded.
+
+"No hope?"
+
+"Not the slightest," said Mrs Otway quietly.  Then after a pause:
+"Jack," she said, "do you know, I think it would be wrong to wish her to
+live.  What has she to live for?"
+
+"Child--her child's husband--their children."
+
+Mrs Otway shook her head.
+
+"No; I don't think she would ever be happy again.  Poor thing! if ever
+woman's heart was broken, hers was.  I don't like going up to see her,
+but I feel obliged.  There are so few women here whom one like her would
+care to see.  Ah, it's a sad case!"
+
+"Does she seem to suffer much?"
+
+"She does not seem to, but who knows what a quiet, patient creature will
+bear without making a sign?"
+
+The months glided on, and still Millicent Hallam lingered as if loth to
+leave the beautiful world spread before her, and on which she loved to
+gaze.
+
+She had half-expected it, but it was still a surprise when Julia
+whispered to her, as she sat beside her couch, that she was going to be
+the wife of Christie Bayle.
+
+Mrs Hallam's eyes dilated.
+
+"He has asked you to be his wife?" she said, in her low, sweet voice.
+
+"No, mother," said Julia, as she laid her head beside her, and gazed
+dreamily before her; "I don't think he asked me."
+
+"But, my child--you said--"
+
+"Yes, mother dear," said Julia innocently, "I hardly know how it came
+about.  It has always seemed to me that some day I should be his wife.
+Why, I have always loved him!  How could I help it?"
+
+Mrs Hallam laid her hand upon her child's glossy hair, and closed her
+eyes, wondering in herself at the simple, truthful words she had heard.
+One moment she felt pained, and as if it ought not to be; the next, a
+flood of joy seemed to send a wave through her breast, as she thought of
+the days when Julia would be alone in the world, and in whose charge
+would she rather have left her than in that of Christie Bayle?
+
+The battle went on at intervals for days; but at last it was at an end,
+and she lay back calmly as she said to herself:
+
+"Yes, it is right.  Now I can be at rest!"
+
+Another month passed.  Doctor Woodhouse came, as was his custom, more as
+a friend than from the belief that his knowledge could be of any avail.
+One particular morning he stopped to lunch, and went up again afterwards
+to see Mrs Hallam, staying some little time.  He left Julia with her,
+and came down to where Sir Gordon was seated on the lawn with Bayle.
+
+The latter started up, as he saw the doctor's face, and his eyes asked
+him mutely for an explanation of his look.
+
+The doctor answered him as mutely, while Sir Gordon saw it, and rose to
+stand agitatedly by his chair.
+
+"Bayle," he whispered; "I thought I was prepared, but now it has come it
+seems very hard to bear!"
+
+Bayle glided away into the house, to go upstairs, meeting Thisbe on the
+way wringing her hands, and blinded with her tears.
+
+"I couldn't bear to stop, sir--I couldn't bear to stop," she whispered.
+"It's come--it's come at last."
+
+Bayle entered the room softly, steeling his heart to bear with her he
+loved some agonising scene.  But he paused on the threshold, almost
+startled by the look of peace upon the wasted face, full in the bright
+Southern light.
+
+Mrs Hallam smiled as she saw him there; and as he crossed the room and
+knelt by her side, she laid her hand in his, and feebly took Julia's and
+placed them together.
+
+"The rest is coming now," she said.
+
+Julia burst into a passion of weeping.
+
+"Mother!  Mother!  If you could but live!" she sobbed.
+
+"Live?  No, my darling, no.  I am so tired--so worn and weary.  I should
+faint now by the way."
+
+She closed her eyes, smiling at them tenderly, and for the space of an
+hour they watched her sleeping peacefully and well.
+
+And as Julia sat there with her hands clasped in Christie Bayle's strong
+palms, a feeling of hopefulness and peace, to which she had long been a
+stranger, came into her heart.  The doctor had once said that there
+might be a change for the better if his patient's mind were at rest, and
+that rest seemed to have come at last.
+
+The afternoon had passed away, and the fast-sinking sun had turned the
+clear sky to gold; and as the great orb of day descended to where a low
+bank of clouds lay upon the horizon, it seemed to glide quickly from
+their view.  The room, but a few moments before lit up by the refulgent
+glow, darkened and became gloomy; but as the glorious light streamed up
+in myriad rays from behind the clouds, there was still a soft flush upon
+the sick woman's face.
+
+A wondrous stillness seemed to have come upon the watchers, for the hope
+that had been warm in Julia's breast was now chilled as if by some
+unseen presence, and she turned her frightened eyes from her mother to
+Bayle, and back.
+
+"Christie!" she cried suddenly.
+
+"Hush!"
+
+One softly-spoken, solemn-sounding word, as Christie Bayle held fast the
+hand of his affianced wife, and together they sank upon their knees.
+
+The glowing purple clouds opened slowly, and once more as from the
+dazzling golden gates of the great city on the farther shore, a wondrous
+light streamed forth, filling the chamber and brightening the features
+of the dying woman.
+
+The pain and agony of the past with their cruel lines had gone, and the
+beautiful countenance shone with that look of old that he who knelt
+there knew so well.  But it was etherealised in its sweet calm, its
+restfulness, as the still, bright eyes gazed calmly and trustfully far
+out to sea.
+
+Julia's fingers tightened on her mother's chilling hand, and she gazed
+with awe at the rapt look and gentle smile that flickered a few moments
+on the trembling lips.
+
+Then, as the clouds closed in once more and the room grew dark, the
+passionate yearning cry of the young heart burst forth in that one word,
+"Mother?"
+
+But there was no response--no word spoken, save that as they knelt there
+in the ever darkening room Christie Bayle's lips parted to whisper, in
+tones so low, that they were like a sigh:
+
+"`Come unto Me all ye that are weary and are heavy laden, and I will
+give you rest.'"
+
+VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.
+
+THE DOCTOR'S GARDEN.
+
+The place the same.  Not a change visible in all those years.  The old
+church with its mossed tiles and lichened walls; the familiar tones of
+the chiming clock that gave notice of the passing hours, and at the top
+of the market-place the old Bank--Dixons' Bank, at whose door that
+drab-looking man stood talking for a few minutes--talking to Mr
+Trampleasure before going home to feed his fishes in the waning light,
+and then take Mrs Thickens up to the doctor's house to spend the
+evening.
+
+And that evening.  The garden unchanged in the midst of change.  The old
+golden glow coming through the clump of trees in the west beyond the row
+of cucumber-frames--those trees that Dr Luttrell told his wife he must
+cut down because they took off so much of the afternoon sun.  But he had
+not cut them down.  He would as soon have thought of lopping off his own
+right hand.
+
+Everything in that garden and about and in that house seemed the same at
+the first glance, but there had been changes in King's Castor in the
+course of years.
+
+There was a stone, for instance, growing very much weather-stained,
+relating the virtues of one Daniel Gemp; and there was the same verse
+cut in the stone that had been sent round on the funeral cards with some
+pieces of sponge cake, one of which cards was framed in the parlour at
+Gorringe's, his crony, who still cut up cloth as of old.
+
+Mrs Pinet, too, had passed away, and the widow who now had the house,
+and let lodgings, painted her pots green instead of red, and robbed the
+dull old place of one bit of colour.
+
+But the doctor's garden was the same, and so thought Christie Bayle, as
+he stood in the gathering gloom six months after his return to England,
+and shortly after his acceptance of the vicarage of King's Castor--at
+his old friend's wish.
+
+There were the old sweet scents of the dewy earth, that familiar one of
+the lately cut grass; there was the old hum of a beetle winging its way
+round and round one of the trees; and there before him were the open
+French windows, and the verandah, showing the lit-up drawing-room
+furniture, the old globe lamps, and the candles on the piano just the
+same.
+
+Had he been asleep and dreamed? and was he still the boyish curate who
+fell in love and failed?
+
+Yes; there was little Miss Heathery going to the piano and laying down
+the reticule bag, with the tail of her white handkerchief hanging out.
+And there was Thickens with his hands resting on his drab trousers; and
+there was the doctor, and little pleasant Mrs Luttrell, going from one
+to the other, and staying longest by, and unable to keep her trembling
+hands off that tall, dark, beautiful woman, who smiled down upon her in
+answer to each caress.
+
+No change, and yet how changed!  How near the bottom of the hill that
+little grey old man, and that rosy little white-haired woman!  How
+querulous and thin sounded Mrs Thickens's voice in her old trivial
+troubadour Heathery song!  The years had gone, and in spite of its
+likeness to the past, what a void there was--absent faces!
+
+No; that carefully dressed old gentleman was half behind the curtain,
+and he has risen to cross to the doctor, pausing to pat the tall,
+graceful woman on the arm, and nod at her affectionately by the way.
+There is another familiar face, too, that of Thisbe's in a most
+wonderful cap, carrying in tea, to hand round, and Tom Porter obediently
+"following in his commodore's wake," his own words, and handing
+bread-and-butter, sugar and cream.
+
+And still Christie Bayle gazes on, half expecting to see the tall, dark,
+handsome man who cast so deep a shadow across so many lives; but instead
+of that the graceful figure that is so like Millicent Hallam of the
+past, appears framed in the window to stand there gazing out into the
+dark garden.
+
+Then she turns back sharply, to answer some remark made in the little
+drawing-room, and looks quickly out again with hands resting on the
+door.
+
+It is very dark out there, and her eyes are accustomed to the light of
+the drawing-room; but in a minute or so she sees that which she sought,
+and half runs over the dewy lawn to where she is clasped in two strong
+arms.
+
+"You truant!" she says playfully, as she nestles close to him.  "Come in
+and sing; we want you to make the place complete.  Why, what are you
+thinking about?"
+
+"I was thinking of the past, Julie," he says.
+
+She looks up at him in the starlight; and he gazes down in her
+glistening eyes.
+
+"The past?  Let me think of it too.  Are we not one?"
+
+And as they stand together the little English interior before them seems
+to fade away, and the light they gaze upon to be the glowing sunshine of
+the far South, blazing down in all its glory upon the grassy grave and
+glistening stone that mark the resting-place of This Man's Wife.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of This Man's Wife, by George Manville Fenn
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40676 ***