himself than to Mrs. Higgs, "I've done what I could for her, sent her
money every week since--"

To his amazement, Mrs. Higgs suddenly interrupted him, bringing her fist
down upon the table with a sounding thump.

"You fool!" screamed she. "You--fool! You've given yourself away! You
deserve all you'll certainly get! Do you suppose a Jewess wouldn't have
wits enough to trace you by that? By the fact that you sent her money?"

"But I sent it anonymously," said Dudley.

"That doesn't matter. Money? Postal-orders, I suppose?"

"Yes."

"Well, they can be traced. Oh, you fool, you wooden-headed fool!"

There was a pause. Mrs. Higgs appeared to have exhausted herself in
vituperation, while Dudley considered this new aspect of the affair in
silence.

"Well," said he at last, "if she does trace me, who will be the
sufferer, do you suppose--you or I?"

"Why, you, you, you, of course!" retorted the old woman with heat. "You
will be hanged, while I can bury myself like a mole in the ground and be
forgotten, lost sight of altogether."

She said this with unctuous satisfaction, and Dudley gave her a glance