g amongst savages. A poor sort of king, say you; but a
king's a king, say I; and king I have been. Yet here I am, sitting in a
Beorminster gutter, but I don't stay in it. By ----,' he confirmed his
purpose with an oath, 'not I. I've got my plans laid, and they'll lift
me up to the stars yet.'

'Hev you the money, mister?' inquired a sceptical listener.

'What's that to you?' cried Jentham, and finished his drink. 'Yes, I
have money!' He set down his empty glass with a bang. 'At least I know
where to get it. Bah! you fools, one can get blood out of a stone if one
knows how to go about it. I know! I know! My Tom Tiddler's ground isn't
far from your holy township,' and he began to sing,--

'Southberry Heath's Tom Tiddler's ground,
Gold and silver are there to be found.
It's dropped by the priest, picked up by the knave,
For the one is a coward, the other is brave.

More brandy, waiter; make it stiff, sonny! stiff! stiff! stiff!'

The man's wild speech and rude song were unintelligible to his stupid,
drink-bemused audience; but the keen brain of the schemer lurking near
the door picked up their sense at once. Dr Pendle was the priest who was
to drop the money on Southberry Heath, and Jentham the knave who was to
pick it up. As certainly as though the man had given chapter and verse,
Cargrim understood his enigmatic stave. His mind flashed back to the
memory that Dr Pendle intended to ride over to Southberry in the
morning, across the heath. Without doubt he had agreed to meet there
this man who boasted that he could get blood out of a stone, and the
object of the meeting was to bribe him to silence. But however loosely
Jentham alluded to his intention of picking up gold, he was cunning
enough, with all his excitement, to hold his tongue as to how he could
work such a miracle. Undoubtedly there was a secret between Dr Pendle
and this scamp; but what it might be, Cargrim could by no means guess.
Was Jentham a disreputable relation of the bishop's? Had Dr Pendle
committed a crime in his youth for which he was now being blackmailed?
What could be the nature of the secret which gave this unscrupulous
blackguard a hold on a dignitary of the Church? Cargrim's brain was
quite bewildered by his conjectures.

Hitherto Jentham had been in the blabbing stage of intoxication, but
after another glass of drink he relapsed into a sullen, silent
condition, and with his eyes on the table pulled fiercely at his pipe,
so that hi