"My husband, let me tell you, Mrs. Jacobs, is not a brute at all,"
sobbed Hilda, with dignity.

"Ah, Mrs. Roberts, that is just what I used to say of Samuel, but he
was the biggest brute in the three kingdoms, for all that; but if you
ask me, meaning no offence, I call a man a brute as only comes to see
his lawful wife about twice a month, let alone making an angel cry."

"Mr. Roberts has his reasons, Mrs. Jacobs; you must not talk of him
like that."

"Ah, so my Samuel used to say when he stopped away from home for three
nights at a time, till I followed him and found out his 'Reason,' and
a mighty pretty 'Reason' she was too, all paint and feathers, the
hussy, and eyes as big as a teacup. They all have their reasons, but
they never tell 'em. But come and put on your things and go out a bit,
there's a dear; it is a beautiful warm evening. You feel tired--oh,
never mind that; it is necessary for people as is in an interested way
to take exercise. I well remembers----"

Here Hilda, however, cut the subject short, and deprived herself of
Mrs. Jacobs' reminiscences by going to put on her things.

It was a bright warm evening, and she found the air so pleasant that,
after strolling round Lincoln's Inn Fields, she thought she would
extend her walk a little, and struck past Lincoln's Inn Hall into New
Square, and then made her way to the archway opposite to where the New
Law Courts now stand. Under this archway a legal bookseller has built
his nest, and behind windows of broad plate-glass were ranged
specimens of his seductive wares, baits on which to catch students