t of
business on his hands; he was doing his best to get into a permanency
at Quodlings' of Norton Folgate, and he knew Mrs. Clover would be glad
to hear that. Let her give his kind regards to Miss Minnie, and believe
him when he said that he was just as friendly disposed as ever.

Beneath these words Mrs. Clover naturally enough detected nothing of
the strange experiences in which Mr. Gammon was involved. "Kind regards
to Minnie." Yes, there was the explanation of his silence. He called
her his "old friend," a phrase of double meaning. Mrs. Clover, in spite
of her good sense, was vexed, and wished he had not said "old." Why,
had she not a year or two the advantage of him in youthfulness?

CHAPTER XX

THE HUSBAND'S RETURN

Gammon would gladly have answered in person Mrs. Clover's letter, but
he had promised Polly that he would neither visit the china shop nor in
any way communicate with her aunt. Polly had made a great point of
this, and he thought the reason was not far to seek; she still
harboured jealousy of her cousin, and no doubt it would be delightful
to make known, just how and when she herself saw fit, her triumph over
Minnie. So he kept away from Battersea Park Road, though often wishing
to spend an evening there in the old way, with Mrs. Clover's bright
face on one side of him and Minnie's modestly bent head on the other.

It would have been so restful after all this excitement, for however he
tried to grasp the facts, Mrs. Clover and Minnie still seemed remote
from the world of wealth and titles; he could not change their names or
see them in any other position than that which was familiar and
natural. In talk with Polly he always rose to hilarious anticipations,
partly the result of amorous fervour; but this mood did not survive
their parting. Alone he was frequently troubled with uneasiness, with
misgiving, more so as the days went by without bringing any news from
Greenacre. Under the cover of night he visited Lowndes Mansions and
hung about there for half an hour, like unto one with sinister
intentions; but his trouble profited him nothing. Polly was growing
impatient. After the manner of her kind she brooded on suspicions, and
hatched numerous more or less wild conjectures. What if Greenacre had
spirited Lord Polperro away for some dark purpose of his own? Gammon
himself could not help suspecting the mysterious man of deep projects
which would tend to the disadvantage of Lord Polperro's for