felt,--perhaps love made him feel it all the more
easily,--that whatever was behind, he was safe in that woman's hands.

"Then promise me that you will wait one month, only one month: ask no
questions; mention nothing to any living soul. And if, before that
time, I do not bring you that belt back, send me to Bodmin Gaol, and
let me bear my punishment."

"I promise," said Tom. And the two walked on again in silence, till
they neared the head of the village.

Then Grace went forward, like Nausicaa when she left Ulysses, lest the
townsfolk should talk; and Tom sat down upon a bank and watched her
figure vanishing in the dusk.

Much he puzzled, hunting up and down in his cunning head for an
explanation of the mystery. At last he found one which seemed to fit
the facts so well, that he rose with a whistle of satisfaction, and
walked homewards.

Evidently, her mother had stolen the belt; and Grace was, if not a
repentant accomplice--for that he could not believe,--at least aware
of the fact.

"Well, it is a hard knot for her to untie, poor child; and on the
strength of having saved my life, she shall untie it her own way. I
can wait. I hope the money won't be spent meanwhile, though, and the
empty leather returned to me when wanted no longer. However, that's
done already, if done at all. I was a fool for not acting at once;--a
double fool for suspecting her! Ass that I was, to take up with
a false scent, and throw myself off the true one! My everlasting
unbelief in people has punished itself this time. I might have got a
search-warrant three months ago, and had that old witch safe in the
bilboes. But no--I might not have found it, after all, and there would
have been only an esclandre; and if I know that girl's heart, she
would have been ten times more miserable for her mother than for
herself, so it's as well as it is. Besides, it's really good fun to
watch how such a pretty plot will work itself out;--as good as a pack
of harriers with a cold scent and a squatted hare. So, live and let
live. Only, Thomas Thurnall, if you go for to come for to go for to
make such an abominable ass of yourself with that young lady any more,
like a miserable school-boy, you will be pleased to make tracks, and
vanish out of these parts for ever. For my purse can't afford to have
you marrying a schoolmistress in your impoverished old age; and my
character, which also is my purse, can't afford worse."

One word of Grace's had fixed itse