ch above
his keen old eyes. "An unusual hour for a visit, and--an unusual
entrance, if I might make the suggestion."

"There'd never have been a chance of seeing you if I had come any other
way." There was a hint of bitterness in the words.

Nicholas looked straight at him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Job Grantley," was the reply. "I live down by the Lower Acre."

"Ah! One of my tenants."

"Yes, sir, one of your tenants."

"And--?" suggested Nicholas urbanely.

"I'm to turn out of my cottage to-morrow," said the man briefly.

"Indeed!" The pupils of Nicholas's eyes contracted. "May I ask why that
information should be of interest to me?"

"It's of no interest to you, sir, and we know it. You never hear a word
of what happens outside this house."

"Mr. Spencer Curtis conducts my business," said Nicholas politely.

"We know that too, sir, and we know the way it is conducted. It's an iron
hand, and a heart like flint. It's pay or go, and not an hour's grace."

"You can hardly expect him to give you my cottages rent free," suggested
Nicholas suavely.

The man winced.

"No, sir. But where a few weeks would make all the difference to a man,
where it's a matter of a few shillings standing between home and the
roadside--" he broke off.

Nicholas was silent.

"I thought perhaps a word to you, sir," went on the man half wistfully.
"We're to go to-morrow if I can't pay, and I can't. A couple of weeks
might have made all the difference. It was for the wife I came, sneaking
up here like a thief. She's lost two little ones; they never but opened
their eyes on the world to shut them again. I'm glad on it now. But women
aren't made that way. There's another coming. She's not strong. I doubt
but the shock'll not take her and the little one too. Better for them
both if it does. A man can face odds, and remake his life if he is a
man--" he stopped.

Still there was silence.

"I was a fool to come," said the man drearily. "'Twas the weather did it
in the end. I'd gone mad-like listening to the wind and rain, and
thinking of her and the child that was to be--" again he stopped.

Nicholas was watching him from under the penthouse of his eyebrows.
Suddenly he spoke.

"How soon could you pay your rent?" he demanded.

"In a fortnight most like, sir. Three weeks for certain."

"Have you told Mr. Curtis that?"

"I have, sir. But it's the tick of time, or out you go."

"Have you ever been behindhand before?"

"No