is aunt, "it's no thanks to you, Leandy
Tweddle! Go away; you can do no good to her now!"

"Not till I've heard her speak," cried Tweddle. "Tillie, don't you
hear?--it's me!"

To his immense relief, she opened her eyes at the sound of his voice,
and turned away with a feeble gesture of fear and avoidance. "You have
come back!" she moaned, "and with her! Oh, keep her away!... I can't
bear it all over again!... I can't!"

He threw himself down by her chair, and drew down the hands in which she
had hidden her face. "Matilda, my poor, hardly-used darling!" he said,
"I've come back _alone_! I've got rid of her, Tillie! I'm free; and
there's no one to stand between us any more!"

[Illustration: HE THREW HIMSELF DOWN BY HER CHAIR, AND DREW DOWN THE
HANDS IN WHICH SHE HAD HIDDEN HER FACE.]

She pushed back her disordered fair hair, and looked at him with sweet,
troubled eyes. "But you went away with her--for ever?" she said. "You
said you didn't love me any longer. I heard you ... it was just
before----" and she shuddered at the recollection.

"I know," said Leander, soothingly. "I was obligated to speak harsh, to
deceive the--the other party, Tillie. I tried to tell you, quiet-like,
that you wasn't to mind; but you wouldn't take no notice. But there, we
won't talk about it any more, so long as you forgive me; and you do,
don't you?"

She hid her face against his shoulder, in answer, from which he drew a
favourable conclusion; but Miss Tweddle was not so easily pacified.

"And is this all the explanation you're going to give," she demanded,
"for treating this poor child the way you've done, and neglecting her
shameful like this? If she's satisfied, Leandy, I'm not."

"I can't help it, aunt," he said. "I've been true to Tillie all the way
through, in spite of all appearances to the contrary--as she knows now.
And the more I explained, the less you'd understand about it; so we'll
leave things where they are. But I've got back the ring, and now you
shall see me put it on her finger."

* * * * *

It seemed that Leander had driven to Scotland Yard just in time to save
himself, for the Inspector did not make his threatened search that
evening.

Two or three days later, however, to Leander's secret alarm, he entered
the shop. After all, he felt, it was hopeless to think of deceiving
these sleuth-hounds of the Law: this detective had been making
inquiries, and identified him as the man who