lives about that man.
She'll never tell her daughter. Minnie will suppose that her father
turned up somehow just for a few hours and then went off again for good
and all."

"Remarkable woman," murmured Greenacre. "It saves trouble, of course."

Possibly he was reflecting whether it might be to his advantage or not
to reveal this little matter in Stanhope Gardens. Perhaps it seemed to
him on the whole that he had done wisely in making known to Miss
Trefoyle only the one marriage (which she might publish or not as her
conscience dictated), and that his store of private knowledge was the
richer by a detail he might or might not some day utilize. For Mr.
Greenacre had a delicacy of his own. He did not merely aim at sordid
profits. In avowing his weakness for aristocratic companionship he told
a truth which explained many singularities in what would otherwise have
been a career of commonplace dishonesty.

"I suppose she must be told," said Gammon with bent head. "Polly, I
mean."

"Miss Sparkes is a young lady of an inquiring spirit. She will want to
know why she does not benefit by Lord Polperro's death."

"You told her yourself about the will, remember."

"I did. As things turn out it was a pity. By the by, I should like to
have seen that document. As Cuthbertson has no knowledge of it, our
deceased friend no doubt drafted it himself. More likely than not it
would have been both amusing and profitable to the lawyers, like his
father's in the days of our youth. I wonder whether he called Mrs.
Clover his wife? We shall never solve all these interesting doubts."

"I had better not let Polly know he burnt it," remarked Gammon.

"Why, no; I shouldn't advise that," said the other with a smile. "But I
have heard that married men--"

"Shut up! I'm not going to marry her."

Driven to this bold declaration, Gammon at once felt such great relief
that he dared everything.

"Then there'll be the devil to pay," said Greenacre.

"Wait a bit. Of course I shall take my time about breaking off."

"Gammon, I am surprised and shocked--not for the first time--at your
utter want of principle."

Each caught the other's eye. The muscles of their faces relaxed, and
they joined in a mirthful peal.

It was a long and exciting week for the town traveller. Greenacre,
always on the look out for romance in common life, was never surprised
when he discovered it, but to Gammon it came with such a sense of
novelty that he had much ado to