"My good boy--"

There was a cackling laugh from under the carpet bag, and a harsh
grating voice replied:

"I be a gurl."

"Dear me," said the Vicar, "then what do you dress yourself in that
style for?--So old Jewel is worse."

"Us don't think a'll live the night."

"Is the doctor with him?" said the Vicar.

"The 'Talian's with un."

By which he understood her to mean Dr. Mulhaus, all foreigners being
considered to be Italians in Drumston. An idea they got, I take it,
from the wandering organ men being of that nation.

"Well," said the Vicar, "I will start at once, and come. It's a
terrible night."

The owner of the great-coat assented with a fiendish cackle, and
departed. The Vicar, having been well wrapped up by his sister and
daughter, departed also, with a last injunction from Miss Thornton to
take care of himself.

Easier said than done, such a night as this. A regular south-westerly