ss you like."

Mr Shanklin smiled at this sally, a demonstration which considerably
incensed the not too amiable Mr Pillans.

"I'll take precious care I don't," said the latter.

Reginald said "Thanks!" drily, and in a way so cutting that Mr Shanklin
and Blandford both laughed this time.

"Look here," said the unwholesome Pillans, looking very warm, "what do
you say that for? Do you want to cheek me?"

"Don't be a fool, Pillans. It doesn't matter to you where he lives,"
said Blandford.

"Thank goodness it don't--or whether he pays his rent either."

"It's a pity you had to leave Garden Vale," said Blandford, apparently
anxious to turn the conversation into a more pacific channel; "such a
jolly place it was. What do you do with yourself all day long in town?"

Reginald smiled.

"I work for my living," said he, keeping his eye steadily fixed on Mr
Pillans, as if waiting to catch the first sign of an insult on his part.

"That's what we all do, more or less," said Mr Shanklin. "Blandford
here works like a nigger to spend his money, don't you, old man?"

"I do so," said Blandford, "with your valuable assistance."

"And with somebody else's assistance too," said Mr Pillans, with a
shrug in the direction of Reginald.

Reginald understood the taunt, and rose to his feet.

"You're not going?" said Blandford.

"I am. I don't forget I owe you for my dinner, Blandford; and I shan't
forget that I owe you also for introducing me to a blackguard. Good-
night."

And without allowing his hearers time to recover from the astonishment
into which these words had thrown them, he marched out of the Shades
with his head in the air.

It was a minute before any of the three disconcerted companions could
recover the gift of speech. At last Mr Shanklin burst out into a
laugh.

"Capital, that was," he said; "there's something in the fellow. And,"
he added internally, and not in the hearing of either of his companions,
"if he's the same fellow Medlock has hooked, our fortune's made."

"All very well," said Pillans; "but he called me a blackguard."

This simple discovery caused still greater merriment at the expense of
the outraged owner of the appellation.

"I've a good mind to go after him, and pull his nose," growled he.

"Nothing would please him better," said Blandford. "But you'd better
leave your own nose behind, my boy, before you start, or there won't be
much of it left. I know Cruden of old."

"You w