Indeed, the lady had warmly grasped his hand with both of her own, which
were imprisoned in tight new gloves, while her bonnet spoke of
regardlessness of expense and recent prodigality. She fell back into the
client's chair.

'Oh, sir,' she said, 'when first we met we did not part, or _I_ did
not--_you_ were quite the gentleman--on the best of terms. But now, how
can I speak of your wise advice, and how much don't I owe you?'

Merton answered very gravely: 'You do not owe me anything, Madam. Please
understand that I took absolutely no professional steps in your affair.'

'What?' cried Mrs. Nicholson. 'You did not send down that blessed young
man to the Perch?'

'I merely suggested that the inn might suit a person whom I knew, who was
looking for country quarters. Your name never crossed my lips, nor a
word about the business on which you did me the honour to consult me.'

'Then I owe you nothing?'

'Nothing at all.'

'Well, I do call this providential,' said Mrs. Nicholson, with devout
enthusiasm.

'You are not in my debt to the extent of a farthing, but if you think I
have accidentally been--'

'An instrument?' said Mrs. Nicholson.

'Well, an unconscious instrument, perhaps you can at least tell me why
you think so. What has happened?'

'You really don't know?'

'I only know that you are pleased, and that your anxieties seem to be
relieved.'

'Why, he saved her from being burned, and the brave,' said Mrs.
Nicholson, 'deserve the fair, not that _she_ is a beauty.'

'Do tell me all that happened.'

'And tell you I can, for that precious young man took me into his
confidence. First, when I heard that he had come to the Perch, I
trampled about the damp riverside with Barbara, and sure enough they met,
he being on the Perch's side of the fence, and Barbara's line being
caught high up in a tree on ours, as often happens. Well, I asked him to
come over the fence and help her to get her line clear, which he did very
civilly, and then he showed her how to fish, and then I asked him to tea
and left them alone a bit, and when I came back they were talking about
teleopathy, and her glass ball, and all that nonsense. And he seemed
interested, but not to believe in it quite. I could not understand half
their tipsycakical lingo. So of course they often met again at the
river, and he often came to tea, and she seemed to take to him--she was
always one for the men. And at last a very queer thing happen