admission, and
with his elbow on the counter began to turn over the pages he had bought,
though that he read nothing was obvious.

At length he said, 'Is old Mr. Watkins still alive?' in a voice which had
a curious youthful cadence in it even now.

'My father is dead, sir,' said the young man.

'Ah, I am sorry to hear it,' said the stranger. 'But it is so many years
since I last visited this town that I could hardly expect it should be
otherwise.' After a short silence he continued--'And is the firm of
Barnet, Browse, and Company still in existence?--they used to be large
flax-merchants and twine-spinners here?'

'The firm is still going on, sir, but they have dropped the name of
Barnet. I believe that was a sort of fancy name--at least, I never knew
of any living Barnet. 'Tis now Browse and Co.'

'And does Andrew Jones still keep on as architect?'

'He's dead, sir.'

'And the Vicar of St. Mary's--Mr. Melrose?'

'He's been dead a great many years.'

'Dear me!' He paused yet longer, and cleared his voice. 'Is Mr. Downe,
the solicitor, still in practice?'

'No, sir, he's dead. He died about seven years ago.'

Here it was a longer silence still; and an attentive observer would have
noticed that the paper in the stranger's hand increased its imperceptible
tremor to a visible shake. That gray-haired gentleman noticed it
himself, and rested the paper on the counter. 'Is Mrs. Downe still
alive?' he asked, closing his lips firmly as soon as the words were out
of his mouth, and dropping his eyes.

'Yes, sir, she's alive and well. She's living at the old place.'

'In East Street?'

'O no; at Chateau Ringdale. I believe it has been in the family for some
generations.'

'She lives with her children, perhaps?'

'No; she has no children of her own. There were some Miss Downes; I
think they were Mr. Downe's daughters by a former wife; but they are
married and living in other parts of the town. Mrs. Downe lives alone.'

'Quite alone?'

'Yes, sir; quite alone.'

The newly-arrived gentleman went back to the hotel and dined; after which
he made some change in his dress, shaved back his beard to the fashion
that had prevailed twenty years earlier, when he was young and
interesting, and once more emerging, bent his steps in the direction of
the harbour-road. Just before getting to the point where the pavement
ceased and the houses isolated themselves, he overtook a shambling,
stooping, unshaven man, wh