wondered, gloomily, what she would think when she heard of it.

[Illustration: "He wondered, gloomily, what she would think when she
heard of it."]

He rose at last and in the pale light of the new moon walked slowly along
towards the town. In his present state of mind he wanted to talk about
Kate Nugent, and the only person who could be depended upon for doing
that was Samson Wilks. It was a never-tiring subject of the steward's,
and since his discovery of the state of Hardy's feelings in that quarter
the slightest allusion was sufficient to let loose a flood of
reminiscences.

It was dark by the time Hardy reached the alley, and in most of the
houses the lamps were lit behind drawn blinds. The steward's house,
however, was in darkness and there was no response when he tapped. He
turned the handle of the door and looked in. A dim figure rose with a
start from a chair.

"I hope you were not asleep?" said Hardy.

"No, sir," said the steward, in a relieved voice. "I thought it was
somebody else."

He placed a chair for his visitor and, having lit the lamp, slowly
lowered the blind and took a seat opposite.

"I've been sitting in the dark to make a certain party think I was out,"
he said, slowly. "She keeps making a excuse about Teddy to come over and
see me. Last night 'e talked about making a 'ole in the water to