m, in short, halfway ready to travel
the following day--a blear-eyed, weak-witted craven, who fell into a
cold sweat at every bump of the coach. Not till they reached the end of
the awful journey--even a Chinaman rose to impudence about Johnny's
nerves, his foul breath, his cracked lips--did Mahony learn how the
wretched boy had come by the money for his debauch. At the public-house
where the coach drew up, old Ocock stood grimly waiting, with a leather
thong at his belt, and the news that his till had been broken open and
robbed of its contents. With an involuntary recommendation to mercy,
Mahony handed over the culprit and turned his steps home.

Polly stood on tip-toe to kiss him; Pompey barked till the roof rang,
making leaps that fell wide of the mark; the cat hoisted its tail, and
wound purring in and out between his legs. Tea was spread, on a clean
cloth, with all sorts of good things to eat; an English mail had
brought him a batch of letters and journals. Altogether it was a very
happy home-coming.

When he had had a sponge-down and finished tea, over which he listened,
with a zest that surprised him, to a hundred and one domestic details:
afterwards he and Polly strolled arm-in-arm to the top of the little
hill to which, before marriage, he used to carry her letters. Here they
sat and talked till night fell; and, for the first time, Mahony tasted
the dregless pleasure of coming back from the world outside with his
toll of adventure, and being met by a woman's lively and disinterested
sympathy. Agreeable incidents gained, those that were the reverse of
pleasing lost their sting by being shared with Polly. Not that he told
her everything; of the dark side of life he greatly preferred little
Polly to remain ignorant. Still, as far as it went, it was a delightful
experience. In return he confessed to her something of the uncertainty
that had beset him, on hearing his opponent's counsel state the case
for the other side. It was disquieting to think he might be suspected
of advancing a claim that was not strictly just.

"Suspected? ... YOU? Oh, how could anybody be so silly!"

For all the fatigues of his day Mahony could not sleep. And after
tossing and tumbling for some time, he rose, threw on his clothing and
went out to smoke a pipe in front of the store. Various worries were
pecking at him--the hint he had given Polly of their existence seemed
to have let them fairly loose upon him. Of course he would be--he