this might be in keeping with his character, for even in the old
days he had never exhibited--at all events to me--a taste for the ignobler
luxuries, and he had seemed to me a very clean-minded man. I never knew any
one who refrained so absolutely from allusion, good or bad, to his friends
or acquaintances. He might have stood utterly alone in the world, a simple
spectator of civilisation.

At length I ventured upon a question.

'You never see any of the Mortimer Street men?'

'No,' he answered carelessly, 'I haven't come in their way lately,
somehow.'

That evening our ramble led us into an enclosure where game was preserved.
We had lost our way, and Ireton, scornful of objections, struck across
country, making for a small plantation which he thought he remembered.
Here, among the trees, we were suddenly face to face with an old gentleman
of distinguished bearing, who regarded us sternly.

'Is it necessary,' he said, 'to tell you that you are trespassing?'

The tone was severe, but not offensive. I saw my companion draw himself to
his full height.

'Not at all necessary,' he answered, in a voice that surprised me, it was
so nearly insolent. 'We are making our way to the road as quickly as
possible.'

'Then be so good as to take the turning to the right when you reach the
field,' said our admonisher coldly. And he turned his back upon us.

I looked at Ireton. To my astonishment he was pallid, the lines of his
countenance indicating fiercest wrath. He marched on in silence till we had
reached the field.

'The fellow took us for cheap-trippers, I suppose,' then burst from his
lips.

'Not very likely.'

'Then why the devil did he speak like that?'

The grave reproof had exasperated him; he was flushed and his hands
trembled. I observed him with the utmost interest, and it became clear from
the angry words he poured forth that he could not endure to be supposed
anything but a gentleman at large. Here was the old characteristic; it had
merely been dormant. I tried to laugh him out of his irritation, but soon
saw that the attempt was dangerous. On the way home he talked very little;
the encounter in the wood had thoroughly upset him.

Next morning he came into my room with a laugh that I did not like; he
seated himself stiffly, looked at me from beneath his knitted brows, and
said in an aggressive tone:

'I have got to know all about that impudent old fellow.'

'Indeed? Who is he?'

'A poverty-stricken s