from her seat and was standing over her visitor, a buxom black-gowned
little fury.

'An' I tell him to go about his business, an' that's the way.' The
gesture the widow threw at her humble kitchen door was magnificent. 'But
stay,' she cried, although the imperturbable Shine had not shown the
slightest intention of moving. 'You've heard I went with Frank's mother
to visit him in the gaol there at the city; p'r'aps you're curious to
know what I said. Well, I'll tell you, an' you can tell all Waddy from
yon platform in the chapel nex' Sunday, if you like. 'Frank,' I said,
'you asked me to be your wife, an' I haven't answered. I do now. I'll
meet you at the prison door when you come out, if you please, an' I'll
marry you straight away.' Those were my very words, Mr. Superintendent,
an' I mean to keep to them.'

Mrs. Haddon stood with flaming face and throbbing bosom, a tragedy queen
in miniature, suffused with honest emotion. Ephraim sat apparently
absorbed in his left boot, thrusting his finger into the hole in the
sole, as if probing a wound.

'You wouldn't think, ma'am,' he said presently with the air of a martyr,
'that I gave fourteen-and six for them pair o' boots not nine weeks
since.'

Mrs. Haddon turned away with an impatient gesture.

'If you've said all you have to say, you might let me get on with my
work.'

'I think that's all, Mrs. Haddon.' The searcher arose, and stood for a