"Miss Sherwood of Rouen, whom Miss Briscoe knew at the Misses Jennings'
finishing-school in New York, is a guest of Judge Briscoe's household."

Fisbee's items were written in ink; and there was a blank space beneath
the last. At the bottom of the page something had been scribbled in
pencil. Harkless tried vainly to decipher it, but the twilight had fallen
too deep, and the writing was too faint, so he struck a match and held it
close to the paper. The action betokened only a languid interest, but when
he caught sight of the first of the four subscribed lines he sat up
straight in his chair with an ejaculation. At the bottom of Fisbee's page
was written in a dainty, feminine hand, of a type he had not seen for
years:

"'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
And cabbages--and kings--'"

He put the paper in his pocket, and set off rapidly down the village
street.

At his departure William Todd looked up quickly; then he got upon his feet
and quietly followed the editor. In the dusk a tattered little figure rose
up from the weeds across the way, and stole noiselessly after William. He
was in his shirt-sleeves, his waistcoat unbuttoned and loose. On the
nearest corner Mr. Todd encountered a fellow-townsman, who had been pacing
up and down in front of a cottage, crooning to a protestive baby held in
his arms. He had paused in his vigil to stare after Harkless.