e a trifle like that
matters to me? Why, I am not spending half my income; if you want any
more you can just let me know; but if you take my advice you will get
rid of that fellow as soon as possible."

Marcus smiled when Olivia showed him the money. "Put it away for the
present," he said, "it will buy Barton some warm clothes; we can afford
to give him his bit and sup for a few days; he is stone broke, as they
call it, and a few pounds may be just what he requires, and put him on
his feet again."

When Mrs. Broderick heard of the strange guest at No. 1, Galvaston
Terrace, she was deeply interested, and warmly commended Marcus's
philanthropy.

"I wonder," she said, thoughtfully, after a few minutes' silence,
"whether any of Fergus's things would fit him; you know what a foolish
body I have been, Livy, to keep them all this time, and it gives Deb so
much trouble to preserve them from moth; but there, we all have our
crazes.

"I have been meaning to part with them for a long time, and this seems
a good opportunity; it does seem such a pity to touch that money; it
would set him up to have a few pounds in hand."

Olivia could not deny this, and in her secret heart she thought Aunt
Madge could not do better with her dead husband's things.

"It will be a real act of charity," she said, frankly. "Oh, Aunt
Madge, if you could only see his clothes, they are so worn and
threadbare, and when Martha washed his shirt and socks she almost cried
over the holes; and then his boots!"

"Say no more, my child, it shall be done, and at once," and Mrs.
Broderick's mouth looked unusually firm.

The very next day Marcus carried a big parcel upstairs and opened it
before Robert Barton's astonished eyes.

Mrs. Broderick, who did nothing grudgingly, had put up all she thought
requisite--a warm suit, and a great coat, a pair of boots, some
coloured flannel shirts and warm underclothing.

"It has upset him a bit," Marcus said, when he re-entered the parlour,
"he is still so weak, you see. He fairly broke down when I showed him
the things. He is very grateful; by-the-bye, Livy," sitting down
beside her as he spoke, "he has been telling me more about himself
to-night; not much, certainly, he does not seem to like speaking of
himself, but he gave me a brief outline.

"He has relations, only he has not seen them for some years; it
appeared he quarrelled with them or got wrong somehow; in fact, he
owned he had been a bit wild, and t