here was the country buzzing about him, and young ladies already

proposing pleasure parties to surround his house at night. Well,
that meant the gallows; and much he cared for that. What troubled

him now was Julia's indescribable levity. That girl would scrape
acquaintance with anybody; she had no reserve, none of the enamel

of the lady. She was familiar with a brute like his landlord; she
took an immediate interest (which she lacked even the delicacy to

conceal) in a creature like Jimson! He could conceive her asking
Jimson to have tea with her! And it was for a girl like this that

a man like Gideon--Down, manly heart!
He was interrupted by a sound that sent him whipping behind the

door in a trice. Miss Hazeltine had stepped on board the
houseboat. Her sketch was promising; judging from the stillness,

she supposed Jimson not yet come; and she had decided to seize
occasion and complete the work of art. Down she sat therefore in

the bow, produced her block and water-colours, and was soon
singing over (what used to be called) the ladylike

accomplishment. Now and then indeed her song was interrupted, as
she searched in her memory for some of the odious little receipts

by means of which the game is practised--or used to be practised
in the brave days of old; they say the world, and those ornaments

of the world, young ladies, are become more sophisticated now;
but Julia had probably studied under Pitman, and she stood firm

in the old ways.
Gideon, meanwhile, stood behind the door, afraid to move, afraid

to breathe, afraid to think of what must follow, racked by
confinement and borne to the ground with tedium. This particular

phase, he felt with gratitude, could not last for ever; whatever
impended (even the gallows, he bitterly and perhaps erroneously

reflected) could not fail to be a relief. To calculate cubes
occurred to him as an ingenious and even profitablerefuge from

distressing thoughts, and he threw his manhood into that dreary
exercise.

Thus, then, were these two young persons occupied--Gideon
attacking the perfect number with resolution; Julia vigorously

stippling incongruous colours on her block, when Providence
dispatched into these waters a steam-launch asthmatically panting

up the Thames. All along the banks the water swelled and fell,
and the reeds rustled. The houseboat itself, that ancient

stationary creature, became suddenly imbued with life, and rolled
briskly at her moorings, like a sea-going ship when she begins to

smell the harbour bar. The wash had nearly died away, and the
quick panting of the launch sounded already faint and far off,

when Gideon was startled by a cry from Julia. Peering through the
window, he beheld her staring disconsolately downstream at the

fast-vanishing canoe. The barrister (whatever were his faults)
displayed on this occasion a promptitude worthy of his hero,

Robert Skill; with one effort of his mind he foresaw what was
about to follow; with one movement of his body he dropped to the

floor and crawled under the table.
Julia, on her part, was not yet alive to her position. She saw

she had lost the canoe, and she looked forward with something
less than avidity to her next interview with Mr Bloomfield; but

she had no idea that she was imprisoned, for she knew of the
plank bridge.

She made the circuit of the house, and found the door open and
the bridgewithdrawn" target="_blank" title="withdraw过去分词">withdrawn. It was plain, then, that Jimson must have

come; plain, too, that he must be on board. He must be a very shy
man to have suffered this invasion of his residence, and made no

sign; and her courage rose higher at the thought. He must come
now, she must force him from his privacy, for the plank was too

heavy for her single strength; so she tapped upon the open door.
Then she tapped again.

'Mr Jimson,' she cried, 'Mr Jimson! here, come!--you must come,
you know, sooner or later, for I can't get off without you. O,

don't be so exceedingly silly! O, please, come!'
Still there was no reply.

'If he is here he must be mad,' she thought, with a little fear.
And the next moment she remembered he had probably gone aboard

like herself in a boat. In that case she might as well see the
houseboat, and she pushed open the door and stepped in. Under the

table, where he lay smothered with dust, Gideon's heart stood
still.

There were the remains of Jimson's lunch. 'He likes rather nice
things to eat,' she thought. 'O, I am sure he is quite a

delightful man. I wonder if he is as good-looking as Mr Forsyth.
Mrs Jimson--I don't believe it sounds as nice as Mrs Forsyth; but

then "Gideon" is so really odious! And here is some of his music
too; this is delightful. Orange Pekoe--O, that's what he meant by

some kind of tea.' And she trilled with laughter. 'Adagio molto
espressivo, sempre legato,' she read next. (For the literary part

of a composer's business Gideon was well equipped.) 'How very
strange to have all these directions, and only three or four

notes! O, here's another with some more. Andante patetico.' And
she began to glance over the music. 'O dear me,' she thought, 'he

must be terribly modern! It all seems discords to me. Let's try
the air. It is very strange, it seems familiar.' She began to

sing it, and suddenly broke off with laughter. 'Why, it's "Tommy
make room for your Uncle!"' she cried aloud, so that the soul of

Gideon was filled with bitterness. 'Andante patetico, indeed! The
man must be a mere impostor.'

And just at this moment there came a confused, scuffling sound
from underneath the table; a strange note, like that of a

barn-door fowl, ushered in a most explosivesneeze; the head of
the sufferer was at the same time brought smartly in contact with

the boards above; and the sneeze was followed by a hollow groan.
Julia fled to the door, and there, with the salutary instinct of

the brave, turned and faced the danger. There was no pursuit. The
sounds continued; below the table a crouching figure was

indistinctly to be seen jostled by the throes of a sneezing-fit;
and that was all.

'Surely,' thought Julia, 'this is most unusual behaviour. He
cannot be a man of the world!'

Meanwhile the dust of years had been disturbed by the young
barrister's convulsions; and the sneezing-fit was succeeded by a

passionate access of coughing.
Julia began to feel a certain interest. 'I am afraid you are

really quite ill,' she said, drawing a little nearer. 'Please
don't let me put you out, and do not stay under that table, Mr

Jimson. Indeed it cannot be good for you.'
Mr Jimson only answered by a distressing cough; and the next

moment the girl was on her knees, and their faces had almost
knocked. together under the table.

'O, my gracious goodness!' exclaimed Miss Hazeltine, and sprang
to her feet. 'Mr Forsyth gone mad!'

'I am not mad,' said the gentleman ruefully, extricating himself
from his position. 'Dearest. Miss Hazeltine, I vow to you upon my

knees I am not mad!'
'You are not!' she cried, panting.

'I know,' he said, 'that to a superficial eye my conduct may
appear unconventional.'

'If you are not mad, it was no conduct at all,' cried the girl,
with a flash of colour, 'and showed you did not care one penny

for my feelings!'
'This is the very devil and all. I know--I admit that,' cried