o
is the kindest man alive, has been very anxious about her, and has
begged of me to try to counsel and comfort her. Now, it is not an easy
matter to comply with this request, because, in the first place, Miss
Tippet does not want me to counsel or comfort her, so far as I know;
and, in the second place, my motives for attempting to do so might be
misunderstood."

"How so?" exclaimed Frank quickly.

"Well, you know, Miss Ward lives with her," said Willie, with a modest
look.

There was again something peculiar about Frank's expression and manner,
as he said, "Well, it would not signify much, I daresay, if people were
to make remarks about you and Miss Ward, for you know it would not be
misconstruction after all."

"What mean you?" asked Willie in surprise.

"You remember what you once said to me about your bosom being on fire,"
pursued Frank. "I suppose the fire has not been got under yet, has it?"

Willie burst into a loud laugh.

"Why, Blazes, do you not know--? But, no matter; we came here to talk
of business; after that is done we can diverge to love."

Willie paused here again for a few seconds and then resumed:

"You must know, Frank, that the cause of Miss Tippet's disturbance just
now is the strange conduct of her landlord, David Boone, who has been
going on of late in a way that would justify his friends putting him in
an asylum. His business affairs are, I fear, in a bad way, and he not
only comes with excessive punctuality for Miss Tippet's rent, but he
asks her for loans of money in a wild incoherent fashion, and favours
her with cautions and warnings of a kind that are utterly
incomprehensible. Only the other night he came to her and asked if she
did not intend soon to visit some of her friends; and on being informed
that she did not, he went further and advised her to do so, saying that
she was looking very ill, and he feared she would certainly get into bad
health if she did not. In fact, he even said that he feared she would
die if she did not go to the country for a few weeks. Now, all this
would be laughable, as being the eccentricity of a half-cracked fellow,
if it were not that he exhibits such a desperate anxiety that his advice
should be followed, and even begged of the poor lady, with tears in his
eyes, to go to visit her friends. What d'ye think of it, Frank? I
confess myself utterly nonplussed."

"I don't know what to think," said Frank after a pause. "Either the man
must b