am, Murray is
mistaken," he mumbled. An idea was forming in his unhappy brain. "I--I am
leaving because I realise that you no longer have any use for my services,
and not because I am--er--well off, as the saying is. I shall try to get
another place." His mind was clear now. The idea was completely formed.
"Of course, it will be no easy matter to find a place at my age,
but,--well, a man must live, you know." He straightened up a bit, as if a
weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

She was puzzled. "But you have money, Wade. You have worked hard. You have
earned a good rest. Why should you go on slaving for other people?"

"Alas," said Wade, resuming the patient smile that had been missing for
days and cocking his head a little, "it is not for me to rest. Murray does
not know everything. My savings are small. He does not know the uses to
which I have been obliged to--I beg pardon, madam, you cannot, of course,
be interested in my poor affairs." He was very humble.

"But Mr. Thorpe always spoke of you as an exceedingly thrifty man. I am
sure that he believed you to be comfortably fixed for life, Wade."

"Quite so," agreed Wade. "And I should have been had it been possible to
lay by with all these unmentioned obligations crowding upon me, year in,
year out."

"Your family? I did not know that there was any one dependent upon you."

"I have never spoken of my affairs, ma'am," said Wade. "It is not for a
servant to trouble his employer with--ahem! You understand, I am sure."

"Perfectly. I am sorry."

"So I thought I would give notice at once, madam, so that I might be on
the lookout as soon as possible for a new place. You see, I shall soon be
too old to apply for a place, whilst if I manage to secure one in time I
may be allowed to stay on in spite of my age."

"Have you anything in view?"

"Nothing, madam. I am quite at a loss where to--"

"Take all the time you like, Wade," she said, genuinely sorry for the man.
She never had liked him. He was the one man in all the world who might
have pitied her for the mistake she had made, and he had steeled his heart
against her. She knew that he felt nothing but scorn for her, and yet she
was sorry for him. This was new proof to her that she had misjudged her
own heart. It was a softer thing than she had supposed. "Stay on here
until you find something satisfactory. Mr. Thorpe would have wished you to
stay. You were a very faithful friend to him, Wade. He set great