usly, and they dropped the
coffer in, Anne locking down the seat, and giving him the key. 'Now I
don't want ye to be on my side for nothing,' he went on. 'I never did
now, did I? This is for you.' He handed her a little packet of paper,
which Anne turned over and looked at curiously. 'I always meant to do
it,' continued Uncle Benjy, gazing at the packet as it lay in her hand,
and sighing. 'Come, open it, my dear; I always meant to do it!'

She opened it and found twenty new guineas snugly packed within.

'Yes, they are for you. I always meant to do it!' he said, sighing
again.

'But you owe me nothing!' returned Anne, holding them out.

'Don't say it!' cried Uncle Benjy, covering his eyes. 'Put 'em away. . . .
Well, if you _don't_ want 'em--But put 'em away, dear Anne; they are
for you, because you have kept my counsel. Good-night t'ye. Yes, they
are for you.'

He went a few steps, and turning back added anxiously, 'You won't spend
'em in clothes, or waste 'em in fairings, or ornaments of any kind, my
dear girl?'

'I will not,' said Anne. 'I wish you would have them.'

'No, no,' said Uncle Benjy, rushing off to escape their shine. But he
had got no further than the passage when he returned again.

'And you won't lend 'em to anybody, or put 'em into the bank--for no bank
is safe in these troublous times?. . . If I was you I'd keep them
_exactly_ as they be, and not spend 'em on any account. Shall I lock
them into my box for ye?'

'Certainly,' said she; and the farmer rapidly unlocked the window-bench,
opened the box, and locked them in.

''Tis much the best plan,' he said with great satisfaction as he returned
the keys to his pocket. 'There they will always be safe, you see, and
you won't be exposed to temptation.'

When the old man had been gone a few minutes, the miller and his wife
came in, quite unconscious of all that had passed. Anne's anxiety about
Bob was again uppermost now, and she spoke but meagrely of old Derriman's
visit, and nothing of what he had left. She would fain have asked them
if they knew where Bob was, but that she did not wish to inform them of
the rupture. She was forced to admit to herself that she had somewhat
tried his patience, and that impulsive men had been known to do dark
things with themselves at such times.

They sat down to supper, the clock ticked rapidly on, and at length the
miller said, 'Bob is later than usual. Where can he be?'

As they both loo