."

He reached the back door at the same time as Mr. Bodfish, and placing his
legs apart, held it firmly against the frantic efforts of the exconstable.
The struggle ceased suddenly, and the door opened easily just as Mrs.
Driver and her friend appeared in the front room, and the farmer, with a
keen glance at the door of the larder which had just closed, took a chair
while his hostess drew a glass of beer from the barrel in the kitchen.

Mr. Negget drank gratefully and praised the brew. From beer the
conversation turned naturally to the police, and from the police to the
listening Mr. Bodfish, who was economizing space by sitting on the bread-
pan, and trembling with agitation.

"He's a lonely man," said Negget, shaking his head and glancing from the
corner of his eye at the door of the larder. In his wildest dreams he
had not imagined so choice a position, and he resolved to give full play
to an idea which suddenly occurred to him.

"I dare say," said Mrs. Driver, carelessly, conscious that her friend was
watching her.

"And the heart of a little child," said Negget; "you wouldn't believe how
simple he is."

Mrs. Clowes said that it did him credit, but, speaking for herself, she
hadn't noticed it.

"He was talking about you night before last," said Negget, turning to his
hostess; "not that that's anything fresh. He always is talking about you
nowadays."

The widow coughed confusedly and told him not to be foolish.

"Ask my wife," said the farmer, impressively; "they were talking about
you for hours. He's a very shy man is my wife's uncle, but you should
see his face change when your name's mentioned."

As a matter of fact, Mr. Bodfish's face was at that very moment taking on
a deeper shade of crimson.

"Everything you do seems to interest him," continued the farmer,
disregarding Mrs. Driver's manifest distress; "he was asking Lizzie about
your calling on Monday; how long you stayed, and where you sat; and after
she'd told him, I'm blest if he didn't go and sit in the same chair!"

This romantic setting to a perfectly casual action on the part of Mr.
Bodfish affected the widow visibly, but its effect on the ex-constable
nearly upset the bread-pan.

"But here," continued Mr. Negget, with another glance at the larder, "he
might go on like that for years. He's a wunnerful shy man--big, and
gentle, and shy. He wanted Lizzie to ask you to tea yesterday."

"Now, Mr. Negget," said the blushing widow. "D