e poured forth such a volley
of vile words at Cargrim that the chaplain stepped to the door and
called the landlord. He felt that it was time for him to assert himself.

'This man is drunk, Mosk,' said he, sharply, 'and if you keep such a
creature on your premises you will get into trouble.'

'Creature yourself!' cried Jentham, advancing towards Cargrim. 'I'll
wring your neck if you use such language to me. I've killed fifty better
men than you in my time. Mosk!' he turned with a snarl on the landlord,
'get me a drink of brandy.'

'I think you've had enough, Mr Jentham,' said the landlord, with a
glance at Cargrim, 'and you know you owe me money.'

'Curse you, what of that?' raved Jentham, stamping. 'Do you think I'll
not pay you?'

'I've not seen the colour of your money lately.'

'You'll see it when I choose. I'll have hundreds of pounds next
week--hundreds;' and he broke out fiercely, 'get me more brandy; don't
mind that devil-dodger.'

'Go to bed,' said Mosk, retiring, 'go to bed.'

Jentham ran after him with an angry cry, so Cargrim, feeling himself
somewhat out of place in this pot-house row, nodded to Mosk and left the
hotel with as much dignity as he could muster. As he went, the burden of
Jentham's last speech--'hundreds of pounds! hundreds of pounds!'--rang
in his ears; and more than ever he desired to examine the bishop's
cheque-book, in order to ascertain the exact sum. The secret, he
thought, must indeed be a precious one when the cost of its preservation
ran into three figures.

When Cargrim emerged into the street it was still filled with people, as
ten o'clock was just chiming from the cathedral tower. The gossipers had
retired within, and lights were gleaming in the upper windows of the
houses; but knots of neighbours still stood about here and there,
talking and laughing loudly. Cargrim strolled slowly down the street
towards the Eastgate, musing over his late experience, and enjoying the
coolness of the night air after the sultry atmosphere of the
coffee-room. The sky was now brilliant with stars, and a silver moon
rolled aloft in the blue arch, shedding down floods of light on the
town, and investing its commonplace aspect with something of romance.
The streets were radiant with the cold, clear lustre; the shadows cast
by the houses lay black as Indian ink on the ground; and the laughter
and noise of the passers-by seemed woefully out of place in this magical
white world.

Cargrim was al