r little pressure under the bed-clothes;
for Emily felt that her brother was pleading for her in every word
that he said.

About ten on the following morning Lopez came and asked for Mr.
Wharton. He was shown into the study, where he found the old man, and
at once began to give his account of the whole concern in an easy,
unconcerned manner. He had the large black patch on the side of his
head, which had been so put on as almost to become him. But it was so
conspicuous as to force a question respecting it from Mr. Wharton. "I
am afraid you got rather a sharp knock yourself, Mr. Lopez?"

"I did get a knock, certainly;--but the odd part of it is that I knew
nothing about it till I found the blood in my eyes after they had
decamped. But I lost my hat, and there is a rather long cut just
above the temple. It hasn't done me the slightest harm. The worst of
it was that they got off with Everett's watch and money."

"Had he much money?"

"Forty pounds!" And Lopez shook his head, thereby signifying that
forty pounds at the present moment was more than Everett Wharton
could afford to lose. Upon the whole he carried himself very well,
ingratiating himself with the father, raising no question about the
daughter, and saying as little as possible of himself. He asked
whether he could go up and see his friend, and of course was allowed
to do so. A minute before he entered the room Emily left it. They did
not see each other. At any rate he did not see her. But there was a
feeling with both of them that the other was close,--and there was
something present to them, almost amounting to conviction, that the
accident of the park robbery would be good for them.

"He certainly did save Everett's life," Emily said to her father the
next day.

"Whether he did or not, he did his best," said Mr. Wharton.

"When one's dearest relation is concerned," said Emily, "and when
his life has been saved, one feels that one has to be grateful even
if it has been an accident. I hope he knows, at any rate, that I am
grateful."

The old man had not been a week in London before he knew that he had
absolutely lost the game. Mrs. Roby came back to her house round the
corner, ostensibly with the object of assisting her relatives in
nursing Everett,--a purpose for which she certainly was not needed;
but, as the matter progressed, Mr. Wharton was not without suspicion
that her return had been arranged by Ferdinand Lopez. She took upon
herself, at any ra