front door close behind
her, and then stole softly upstairs to have a look at the fell destroyer
of his domestic happiness.

Mr. Piper, who was already very tired of his imprisonment, looked up
curiously as he heard the door pushed open, and discovered an elderly
gentleman with an appearance of great stateliness staring at him. In the
ordinary way he was one of the meekest of men, but the insolence of this
stare was outrageous. Mr. Piper, opening his mild blue eyes wide, stared
back. Whereupon Mr. Cox, fumbling in his vest pocket, found a pair of
folders, and putting them astride his nose, gazed at the pseudo-broker's
man with crushing effect.

"What do you want here?" he asked, at length. "Are you the father of one
of the servants?"

"I'm the father of all the servants in the house," said Mr. Piper,
sweetly.

"Don't answer me, sir," said Mr. Cox, with much pomposity; "you're an
eyesore to an honest man, a vulture, a harpy."

Mr. Piper pondered.

"How do you know what's an eyesore to an honest man?" he asked, at
length.

Mr. Cox smiled scornfully.

"Where is your warrant or order, or whatever you call it?" he demanded.

"I've shown it to Mrs. Cox," said Mr. Piper.

"Show it to me," said the other.

"I've complied with the law by showing it once," said Mr. Piper,
bluffing, "and I'm not going to show it again."

Mr. Cox stared at him disdainfully, beginning at his little sleek grey
head and travelling slowly downwards to his untidy boots and then back
again. He repeated this several times, until Mr. Piper, unable to bear
it patiently, began to eye him in the same fashion.

"What are you looking at, vulture?" demanded the incensed Mr. Cox.

"Three spots o' grease on a dirty weskit," replied Mr. Piper, readily,
"a pair o' bow legs in a pair o' somebody else's trousers, and a shabby
coat wore under the right arm, with carrying off"--he paused a moment as
though to make sure--"with carrying off of a drawing-room clock."

He regretted this retort almost before he had finished it, and rose to
his feet with a faint cry of alarm as the heated Mr. Cox first locked
the door and put the key in his pocket and then threw up the window.

"Vulture!" he cried, in a terrible voice.

"Yes, sir," said the trembling Mr. Piper.

Mr. Cox waved his hand towards the window.

"Fly," he said, briefly.

Mr. Piper tried to form his white lips into a smile, and his knees
trembled beneath him.

"Did you hear what I said?" d