e in a more airy neighbourhood, to
which Bones had been removed through the kindness and liberality of Miss
Stivergill, whose respect for the male sex had, curiously enough,
increased from the date of the burglary. With characteristic energy she
had removed Bones, with his wife and a few household goods, to a better
dwelling near the river, but this turned out to be damp, and Bones
became worse in it. She therefore instituted another prompt removal to
a more decidedly salubrious quarter. Here Bones improved a little in
health. But the poor man's injury was of a serious nature. Ribs had
been broken, and the lungs pierced. A constitution debilitated by
previous dissipation could not easily withstand the shock. His life
trembled in the balance.

The change, however, in the man's spirit was marvellous. It had not
been the result of sudden calamity or of prolonged suffering. Before
his accident, while in full vigour and in the midst of his sins, the
drops which melted him had begun to fall like dew. The night when his
eyes were opened to see Jesus was but the culminating of God's work of
mercy. From that night he spoke little, but the little he said was to
express thankfulness. He cared not to reason. He would not answer
questions that were sometimes foolishly put to him, but he listened to
the Word of God, read by his poor yet rejoicing wife, with eager,
thirsting looks. When told that he was in danger he merely smiled.

"Georgie," he whispered--for he had reverted to the old original name of
his wife, which, with his proper name of Blackadder, he had changed on
coming to London--"Georgie, I wish I might live for your sake and His,
but it'll be better to go. We're on the same road at last, Georgie, and
shall meet again."

Aspel marked the change and marvelled. He could not understand it at
all. But he came to understand it ere long. He had followed Bones in
his changes of abode, because he had formed a strange liking for the
man, but he refused to associate in any way with his former friends.
They occasionally visited the sick man, but if Aspel chanced to be with
him at the time he invariably went out by the back-door as they entered
by the front. He refused even to see Phil Maylands, but met Pax, and
seemed not to mind him. At all events he took no notice of him.
Whether his conduct was owing to pride, shame, or recklessness, none
could tell.

The changes of residence we have referred to had the eff