"I have no other clothes except those I have on."

"And-forgive me again-those are not fresh from the dressmaker?"

"Indeed they are not. I have had this dress-At the convent I had one dress a year; this is my last year's frock."

"What has become of your hat? generally wear one?”

Don't you

"Oh yes, I wear one, but I left the one hat I had behind at the hotel."

"I told you that I went into Newcaster to do some shopping; and among other things I bought the contents of this parcel. If you'll take it to the room in which you spent the night I think it possible that you'll find it contains some articles which may be of use to you. While you're trying them on to see if they're any sort of a fit I'll be putting things to rights; and harnessing that horse of mine, who's very much mistaken if he thinks that he's in for a whole day's holiday."

She stared at him in amaze.

"Why should you buy things for me?"

"Why shouldn't I? You are Frances Vernon's friend; and she's a young lady whom I happen to know rather a deal about."

"But that's no reason why you should buy things for me! you know it's no reason!-you know it's not!"

"Pray don't imagine that I'm offering to give you

these things; I've expressed myself ill if I've conveyed that impression. An exact account of their cost will be rendered to you, for which I shall receive payment in due course."

"From whom will you receive payment?—from me? How can you imagine that I shall be able to pay you; when, as I tell you, I haven't a penny; and don't suppose I ever shall have one,"

"As a man, Miss Gilbert, you must allow me to understand commercial matters better than you doas a business man I know I shall be paid, in full; so please make your mind easy on that score. When you have changed your clothes-and I think that, considering all things, the sooner you do change them the better-and I have stuck my steed between the shafts, I will drive you, at the rate of about four miles an hour, to a railway station; then, with your permission, acting as your personal conductor, I will take you, with the help of a train, to Mrs Vernon's house. Mrs Vernon is Frances Vernon's mother; and is by way of being some sort of a kind of a relation of my own. She will be delighted to give you house room, until inquiries have been made into the truth of Mr Emmett's statements, as to your father being dead and his having left no money-I feel sure he did leave money, or Emmett would never have paid that bill at the convent; to say nothing of his having expressed a wish to marry you—and in short, till your affairs are placed upon a regular footing."

"Which may be never. Why should Mrs Vernon give me what you call house room?"

"You are full of whys. I tell you that she will be delighted-for your sake; for her own sake; for Frances' sake; and, perhaps, a little for mine."

"For your sake!—it's perfectly ridiculous to suppose that you can care either one way or the other." "Quite so; it's very good of you to say so."

"Mr Frazer, are you deceiving me? Are you sure that you know Frances Vernon-and her mother?" "Extraordinary though it may seem, facts are facts; and I not only know Frances Vernon and her mother, but also her father and her brother."

"That's Jim."

"Yes, that's Jim; I perceive that you are acquainted with the young scoundrel's name."

"He's not a young scoundrel. Frances told me he was a darling. She showed me his photograph; I could see for myself that he's very good-looking." "You said Frances was lovely; I am therefore not surprised to hear that you think her brother's goodlooking. My word! However, on a question of taste there is no disputing." He stood up; the brown paper parcel in his hands. "Shall I place this inside that private apartment of yours? And will you be so good as to make your toilet with all possible expedition? I should like to start from here well inside thirty minutes if you could manage to be ready?"

"I'm very sorry to intrude; or to interfere with

what seems to be a very nice little arrangement; but it isn't only a question of what the young lady can manage—what price me?"

This question came from a figure which all at once rose from a clump of furze which was at the back of Mr Frazer.

CHAPTER X

WHAT THE CARAVAN LEFT BEHIND

WINGING round in the direction from which

SW

the voice came, Mr Frazer stood still to stare. The girl, rising to her feet, stared also; with her pale cheeks a little paler, and her eyes wide

open.

The speaker was one of those shambling, halfgrown youths who are generally found attached to gipsy caravans, as hangers-on. That he had gipsy blood in his veins, his hair and eyes and skin suggested; but that he was as much Cockney as gipsy his tongue betrayed. With a ragged cloth cap on the back of his head; the remains of a black-andwhite checked woollen scarf about his sinewy neck; a faded old red flannel shirt plainly visible under an unbuttoned sleeved waistcoat; his fingers thrust into the band of his trousers: he grinned first at the man, and then at the woman, in evident enjoyment of their something more than surprise. He showed no inclination to break the silence which followed his wholly unexpected, and undesired, appearance on the scene; from his point of view the joke was apparently too good a one to spoil. It was Mr Frazer who spoke next.