Hilliard burst into a violent fit of laughter. His pipe fell to the
floor, and broke; whereupon he interrupted his strange merriment
with a savage oath.

"It was a joke, then?" remarked his friend.

"Your monstrous dulness shows the state of your mind. This is what
comes of getting entangled with women. You need to have a sense of
humour."

"I'm afraid there's some truth in what you say, old boy. I've been
conscious of queer symptoms lately--a disposition to take things
with absurd seriousness, and an unwholesome bodily activity now and
then."

"Go on with your tragic story. The girl asked you to find her a
place----"

"I promised to think about it, but I couldn't hear of anything
suitable. She had left her address with me, so at length I wrote her
a line just saying I hadn't forgotten her. I got an answer on
black-edged paper. Miss Madeley wrote to tell me that her father had
recently died, and that she had found employment at Dudley; with
thanks for my kindness--and so on. It was rather a nicely written
letter, and after a day or two I wrote again. I heard nothing--
hardly expected to; so in a fortnight's time I wrote once more.
Significant, wasn't it? I'm not fond of writing letters, as you
know. But I've written a good many since then. At last it came to
another meeting. I went over to Dudley on purpose, and saw Miss