but for all that the fear of Tyburn may spoil his rest at night, and
when he gets there we may find that the brown mask conceals a coward
after all."

"Had you seen him that night as I did you would not say so," was the
answer.

"I like speech with a man before I judge his merits," said Gentleman
Jack, rising from his chair and flicking some dust from his sleeve. He
appeared to resent such slavish admiration of Galloping Hermit--perhaps
because he felt that his own pre-eminence was challenged. It pleased him
to think that his name must be in everyone's mouth, that his price in
the crime-market must for months past have been higher than any other
man's, and he was suddenly out of humour with the frequenters of the
"Punch-Bowl." He threw a guinea to the landlady, told her to buy a
keepsake with the change, and passed out with a careless nod, much as
though he intended never to come back into such low company.

The landlady stood fingering the guinea, turning it between her finger
and thumb, rather helping her reflections by the action than satisfying
herself that the coin was a good one.

"I believe we've had Galloping Hermit here to-night," she said suddenly.
"It was unlike Gentleman Jack to talk as he did just now. Mark my words,
he wears a brown mask on special occasions, and thought by sneering to
throw dust in our eyes. It's not the first time I have considered the
possibility, and I'm not sure that I won't buy a brown silk mask for
keepsake and slip it on when next I see him coming in at the door. That
would settle the question."