hings were set out on the table and a kettle
of water placed in readiness on the gas-ring by the fireplace, I
gathered that Polton also was full of business and anxious not to be
disturbed.

Accordingly, I lit the gas and made my tea, enlivening my solitude by
turning over in my mind the events of the afternoon.

Juliet had been charming--as she always was--frank, friendly and
unaffectedly pleased to have my companionship. She evidently liked me
and did not disguise the fact--why should she indeed?--but treated me
with a freedom, almost affectionate, as though I had been a favourite
brother; which was very delightful, and would have been more so if I
could have accepted the relationship. As to her feelings towards me, I
had not the slightest misgiving, and so my conscience was clear; for
Juliet was as innocent as a child, with the innocence that belongs to
the direct, straightforward nature that neither does evil itself nor
looks for evil motives in others. For myself, I was past praying for.
The thing was done and I must pay the price hereafter, content to
reflect that I had trespassed against no one but myself. It was a
miserable affair, and many a heartache did it promise me in the lonely
days that were to come, when I should have said "good-bye" to the Temple
and gone back to my old nomadic life; and yet I would not have had it
changed if I could; would not have bartered the bitter-sweet memories
for dull forgetfulness.

But other matters had transpired in the course of our drive than those
that loomed so large to me in the egotism of my love. We had spoken of
Mr. Hornby and his affairs, and from our talk there had emerged certain
facts of no little moment to the inquiry on which I was engaged.

"Misfortunes are proverbially sociable," Juliet had remarked, in
reference to her adopted uncle. "As if this trouble about Reuben were
not enough, there are worries in the city. Perhaps you have heard of
them."

I replied that Walter had mentioned the matter to me.

"Yes," said Juliet rather viciously; "I am not quite clear as to what
part that good gentleman has played in the matter. It has come out,
quite accidentally, that he had a large holding in the mines himself,
but he seems to have 'cut his loss,' as the phrase goes, and got out of
them; though how he managed to pay such large differences is more than
we can understand. We think he must have raised money somehow to do it."

"Do you know when the mines began