shady's perplexities were great. how to account to mrs. gillies for his long absence, without raising her woman's curiosity, he knew not; and the knives! he thought, 'yes, i have the knives,' putting his hand to his pocket. while the domestic difficulties were being overcome, we will follow the stranger. he had told shady not to hurry himself with the key, for the fresh air, and a stroll among the ruins, would better accord with his taste than to be again immediately immured in dust and semi-darkness. while examining a curious archway, he heard horse hoofs, and looking down saw a man dismount, fasten his horse to a tree, and climb the bank through a place where the wall was very low, and would permit scaling easily. he soon cleared the wall, and stood upon the loose stones within the quadrangle.

the stranger had time to observe him, being hidden in the shadow of the archway; there was nothing remarkable in his appearance; his dress was plain, his age a little more or less than sixty. the stranger, quitting the archway, advanced to meet him, looking fixedly upon his face while he spoke.

'mr. anthony bloodworth, i think?' the horseman started, but replied in the affirmative.

'i am glad,' said the stranger. 'i have long had this to deliver, and am glad to be rid of it;' and he placed in his hands a small paper parcel; 'but,' he said, before he relinquished his hold of it, 'there is some receipt or acknowledgment that i must have.'

'what is it? what is it?' asked bloodworth; 'i must see it before i can give a receipt.'

'the receipt is written out for you—you have but to sign it.' bloodworth opened the packet, which contained two papers, with a letter.

he glanced continually from the paper to the stranger, and at last, in a husky voice, asked him how long it had been in his possession.

'i see,' he continued; 'you were acquainted with my correspondent.'

'yes,' said the stranger, carelessly, 'i knew him well.'

'have you been long about here?' asked bloodworth, who was beginning to put the papers into his pocket.

the stranger produced a small ink-horn, saying, 'the receipt, if you please.'

'i don't know,' said bloodworth; 'i would rather convey an important document in another way. why, if charged with this for me, did you wait to meet me here, instead of seeking me at my own dwelling?'

the stranger held the ink-horn. 'sign the receipt, man,' he said, not deigning to answer the question.

with much reluctance he drew out the papers, and doing as the stranger bade him, delivered the document into his hands.

'what brings you here?' he said, looking nervously at him.

'what brings you here?' said the stranger.

'my business,' answered bloodworth doggedly.

'and i was brought here by your business and my pleasure.'

'had you any message?' asked the steward, cowed by the stranger's manner.

'no other than i have delivered; but tell me how long do you mean to pursue this work? take my advice; repent, and make a clean breast of it, or you will be caught in your own toils.'

'then he has betrayed me,' said bloodworth, 'and you know all.'

'i know enough to advise you this.'

at this moment shady approached with the key; he made a sort of gesture to the steward, as destitute of respect or cordiality as it could well be, and, turning to the stranger, proffered the key and his guidance.

'this gentleman,' said the steward, in a lamb-like tone, which shady was greatly surprised to hear, 'is a friend of mine, mr. higgs, and as soon as i have waited on sir valary i shall be glad to show him the few curiosities we have.' he was continuing his civil address, when the stranger, laying his hand on shady's shoulder, pointed to the gallery, and left him without reply.

whatever the papers were that bloodworth had received, it was evident they had greatly altered the state of feeling in which he had crossed the wall. his leaden eyes were then as quiet as stagnant water—now his whole visage was agitated; he passed his hand nervously over his face, went towards the tower, and returned, as if in uncertainty. he had ridden round in order to avoid dr. cruden, whom he had been told in the village was at the dew, little expecting what he had met with.

guilt makes a coward; he feared every one he met. robinson, who was sitting on the stone steps of the [** transcriber's note: missing line of text?] cross carving devices on a stick with his new knife, looked with amazement at him, as he saluted him with kindness, and told him gently where to find his horse.

entering the kitchen, he spoke in the same tone to mrs. gillies, inquiring with respect and concern after sir valary and his daughter. mrs. gillies, to whom the sight of him was wormwood, could not help being struck with his altered tone, and put it down to repentance for his late misbehaviour. he asked for water, complained of weariness, and altogether stirred up something less akin to hatred than she was accustomed to feel for him. 'you have had company to-day, mrs. gillies?' supposing he meant dr. cruden, mrs. gillies nodded.

'i'm afraid you were not prepared for him.'

'as for that,' she said quickly, 'we are not allowed enough to keep the house going at any time; however, he is a plain man, and never eats nor drinks.'

'dr. cruden, you mean?'

'who else comes here?' said the housekeeper.

by various indirect questions, he ascertained that, so far as mrs. gillies knew, the only person of the household to whom the stranger had introduced himself was shady higgs.

'the house ill kept!' said bloodworth, after a pause. 'mrs. gillies, i fear that my good intentions towards sir valary and the well-being of his estate have gotten me a poor name, that i ill deserve.'

'well, i hope you don't deserve all that is said of you,' she answered blandly; 'there's many as say the money that ought to go for the proper keeping of the house, as sir valary's house ought to be kept, is worse than sunk in the sea. i know for my part, i'd rather be the poorest on earth than rich with such gains; and if it was not for the love to sir valary and my young lady, i'd sooner be in a close cottage, with bread enough and no care, and nothing expected from me, than be in a corner of a great place like this, with such stint allowance. why, you may believe me, if i wasn't to contrive and to contrive, and keep us three down here at a very near rate, i could never make what i have enough to serve sir valary and my young lady, even as well as i do serve them. the world is changed a good deal, for the housekeeper of parker's dew to be put to the shifts i am; and since you give me the liberty to speak, mr. bloodworth,' she continued, growing eloquent on the strength of the steward's silence, 'i may tell you, that if things go on much longer, there is them that will look into it, and know the reason why; and i've heard as much as that, and a little more too.'

'if things go on much longer, there is them that

will look into it.'

bloodworth sat perfectly silent; he may have heard all the housekeeper's oration, or he may not; probably the latter, for he looked abstracted, and, taking his hat, said, 'i have a little work outside—some one to speak to—you need not let sir valary know that i am here, until my return; and for the matter of stint, mrs. gillies, you will be pleased to remember that i am but a servant like yourself; i have not the ordering of sir valary's mind about his money.'

'what has come to the man?' said the housekeeper, as she watched him through the heavy stone window: 'i never thought to hear him own himself a servant; something has taken him down since he was last here.'

with his head bent down, and his hands folded behind his back, he walked slowly towards the spot where he had left shady and the stranger. he met the former advancing towards the tower.

'what have you done with mr. vandercroft?' he said, looking sharply up.

'mr. ——?' shady asked, not catching the name.

'my friend, whom i left with you; i wish to see him.'

'the gentleman is in the portrait gallery,' said shadrach, 'and has no desire for company.'

'not for yours, perhaps.'

'you are correct, mr. bloodworth, for he requested me to go; but i did not take it to be personal, as he desired to be locked in, that none might intrude.'

'where's the key?'

'the key?' said shady, looking at him calmly.

'yes, the key,' repeated bloodworth, his natural fierceness returning; 'i tell you i wish to see him.'

'you can see him,' said shady, looking up as if calculating, 'at eleven o'clock to-morrow, if you will ride so far.'

bloodworth could scarcely speak for emotion, but controlling himself said, 'shady, my friend, you are disposed to be pleasant, but do not trifle with me just now. let me have the key; i must see this man; what reason did he give you for saying he would not see me?'

'i do not know that you were in his thoughts at all,' said shady calmly, 'when he said he wanted no intruders; but i believe i know his reason for seeking seclusion.'

'you do?' said bloodworth, his lips growing white, and his eyes fixed earnestly upon him.

'yes, he preferred to be alone.'

'is that all? then give me the key.'

'i am under promise.'

'give me the key!' said bloodworth, choking with ill-concealed passion.

'nay, then, if you are bent on it, i must return with you and explain, and leave the gentleman, whose name i could not catch, to arrange with you according as he is affected.'

the cool determination with which higgs said this exhausted the remains of the steward's temper, and he demanded the key in violent language, shady remaining perfectly unmoved, though his face became serious, and expressed as much aversion as he could feel.

'it is better that your venom should fall upon the unworthy,' he said, with a placidity that only exasperated the railer. how far the altercation would have proceeded is doubtful, but, happily for higgs, it was suddenly closed by dr. cruden.

'mr. bloodworth, i was told, when at a short distance from the house, that you must have entered it about the time that i left; now i particularly wish to have some conversation with you, so i turned my horse. higgs, it is private business,' he said, nodding to shady, who, with an air of much satisfaction, left the steward with one far better able, as he felt, to cope with him than himself.

the doctor looked at his watch. 'i have already spent some hours here, mr. bloodworth, and am far beyond my usual time for dinner; but i am so deeply interested in the affairs of your master, that i am determined if possible to come to an understanding with you as to—that—in fact, pray, mr. bloodworth, what is the meaning of all this? i find sir valary suffering from severe nervous shocks, owing entirely to your interviews with him. though known to be one of the richest men in the county, and possessing as liberal a heart as a gentleman of his station ought to have, his household, i find, is limited to bare necessities, and even the young lady his daughter has no command of money. what does it all mean, mr. bloodworth? i must tell you in plain english that the whole is laid at your door.'

all this was said in the heat and rapidity of indignation, and it was about the last kind of attack that the doctor had meditated making. he had ridden back hastily, and had settled as he rode what would be the wisest way of handling the steward, so as to get at the secret. 'i must take him quietly,' he said to himself, 'make no charges, suspect nothing;' and he had even prepared the opening of his harangue; but the sight of bloodworth, his face inflamed with passion, looking much as marjory had described him on his last visit to sir valary, had completely thrown him off his balance, and all his wise resolutions went to the winds. the steward felt the advantage of his position, and said somewhat sullenly, if sir valary had any complaint to make of him, he would hear it from himself; he was answerable to no one else; and with regard to the expenditure of the household, he was not responsible for that; but sir valary was not the only rich man in the world that chose rather to live like a poor one; however, it was not his duty to interfere in such matters; he supposed sir valary had a right to spend or save without accounting to any one.

'well, well, well, well,' said the doctor, vexed with himself for his rashness, 'i spoke hastily; but you must know, bloodworth, that you are the talk of the country, and that people consider you have obtained such an influence over sir valary, that you can get him to consent to anything, and, therefore, all the hard measures with tenants, and the penurious way in which he lives, are ascribed to you.'

bloodworth shrugged his shoulders. 'i never cared much for what people said of me,' he answered.

'very good,' said the doctor; 'it's a fine thing to have a clear conscience; but what i want to know is, why latterly your visits have excited him so strangely?'

after a short pause, bloodworth, who kept his eyes fixed on the ground all the time, scarcely raising them, said, 'sir valary is very much altered lately; things that did not fret him fret him now; the business that i am obliged to tell him makes him furious—that is no fault of mine.'

'but your own behaviour the last time?' said the doctor, in a voice which showed that bloodworth's words had not been without some effect.

'well, i was wrong, and i own it; i am a bad temper; i get ill-will every way; there is not a tenant that wouldn't shoot me if he could; the people at the house hate me worse than a dog; the squire has no name bad enough for me—and all because i follow out sir valary's directions; and then when i go to him to tell him what i've done, and find him take everything the wrong way, it puts me off, and i forget myself; i did last time, i know it, and i am sorry for it.'

he said this with an air of so much candour, with something so like injured innocence, that he quite won the doctor, who was a far better adept in detecting the evil workings of the body than the secret mischiefs of the mind.

'but,' he said, considerably mollified, 'you have been in sir valary's secrets for many years; can't you now help us to deliver his mind from some very oppressive burden—we know not what—that lies on it? don't you know of anything which leads him to this strange way of living, which it would be better for his friends also to know?'

'supposing i did, sir,' said bloodworth, 'have i any right to betray my master's confidence? but can you suppose, sir, that he would tell me anything except about money matters, that he would keep from miss de la mark, or from you?'

what could the doctor say to so much reason? 'it is really very mysterious,' he said, after a pause. 'well, as i've undertaken sir valary's medical condition, you cannot wonder that i am in every way interested for his health; and i assure you i tremble to think of his having such another attack as the last one you left him in.'

'you see, sir,' said bloodworth, very well satisfied with the victory he had gained, 'i get sore at heart sometimes; but i promise you to do my best to tell him as little to vex him as i can; and i hope i'll learn to keep my own temper as i ought to do; and if you would be so good as to make my peace with my young lady, sir, i should be glad;' and so they parted, the doctor going towards the house with a mixed feeling.

'the man speaks fair enough; but then, here is this about bet eggs. if i could have asked him about that—i almost wish i had; it was on the tip of my tongue; however, it was as well to keep it in. i'll have a little talk with marjory, and calm her feelings towards him.'

bloodworth meantime stood watching him as he went. 'if i could dispose of all my troubles as easily as this,' he thought, 'i shouldn't have much to fear;' and a bitter and derisive smile for a moment rested on his features. to obtain the key of the portrait gallery was now his business. when he returned to the tower in search of shady, he found the librarian quietly resting in one of the deep windows, arranging some plants for his young lady, while awaiting the call of sir valary.

'higgs, i hope you've come to your senses.'

shady smiled.

'come, i've been hindered long enough; let me have that key.'

shady immediately produced it. 'you will return it to me, mr. bloodworth, when you have done with it, as it is my office to lay all the keys on sir valary's table at night.'

'higgs,' said the steward, as he clutched the key. 'i have been a good friend to you and yours; are you joining with the rest against me?'

shady, raising his eyebrows, looked at him without answering.

'i say, are you going to turn against me?' he repeated.

'not that i am aware of,' said shady.

'you'll all know better some day.'

'that i believe, in most things. for myself, i hope it sincerely; but in this particular i do not quite see your meaning.'

'yes, you do; you don't take me in with your mock simplicity. you know how i've helped you, and your grandmother before you.'

'i am no mocker, mr. bloodworth,' said shady with dignity; 'and i deny that you have ever helped me; how you helped my grandmother elizabeth you best know.'

'ah! there it is, there's the gratitude i get,' said bloodworth, who felt that shady was in no spirit to be tampered with. 'i wish i'd never seen one of your name!' he growled, as he was leaving the apartment.

'mr. bloodworth,' said shady, with a slight cough, 'you'll excuse my calling you back, but i should be sorry to forget my duty, through any natural rising of the heart against your very unmerited and unexpected attack, and therefore, in order to save you unnecessary trouble, may i ask whether you require that key for the same purposes which induced you to demand it before?'

'of course i do,' said bloodworth quickly.

'ah!' said shady, 'i guessed it might be so; then permit me to say that the gentleman whose name i could not catch is no longer there.'

'not there!'

'no,' said shady, again turning to his plants; 'having pledged myself to preserve him in privacy, and concluding that you would again demand the key, i informed him of my dilemma—which was that i must fail in respect either to him or to you; upon which he departed.'

'which way?' muttered the steward, as soon as he could control his voice to utter the words.

'i didn't think he would wish to be followed,' said shady coolly, 'and therefore did not observe him.'

'let him go!' said the steward, with an oath, throwing the key to shady; 'i'll remember you for this!'

'and i'll do my best to forget you for this,' said shady, rubbing his leg, against which the key had struck with some force. 'in some way or other, i fear he is a bad man. how pleasant to turn to these innocent things!' tenderly looking at the flowers, 'after contention with the rude passions of men—yes, and even of women,' he mentally added, as mrs. gillies crossed his mind.