"I shall call for you in my motor-car," Jacob continued; "we shall
make purchases on our way, and we shall return to Marlingden in state.
Thank heavens, Dick, for small ambitions! Just for the moment, I feel
that nothing could make me happier than to be driven down the village
street, pull up at the shops on the way home, and spend a few
five-pound notes where I've had to look twice at a shilling."

Dauncey smiled with the air of a man who sees more wonderful things.

"That's all very well in its way, old fellow," he admitted, "but
to appreciate this absolutely you ought to be married. I can think
of nothing but Nora's face when I tell her--when I show her the
pocketbook--when she begins to realise! Jacob, it's worth all the
misery of the last few years. It's worth--anything."

Jacob's face glowed with sympathy, but he made a brave attempt to
whistle under his breath a popular tune.

"Fact of it is, old chap," he said, as he gripped the bottle for
support and watched the bubbles rise in Dauncey's glass, "we are both
altogether too emotional."

* * * * *

Jacob's programme, for the remainder of the day, was carried out very
nearly as he had planned it. The car was hired without difficulty, and
the sensation created in the village shops by his arrival in it, his
lavish orders and prompt payment, was ample and gratifying. Mrs.
Harris alone seemed curiously unmoved when he confided to her the
story of this great change in his circumstances. She who had been all
kindness and sympathy in the days of his misfortune listened to the
story of his newly arrived wealth with a striking absence of
enthusiasm.

"You'll be giving up your rooms now, I suppose?" she observed with a
sigh. "Want to go and live in the West End of London, or some such
place."

Jacob extended his arm as far as possible around her ample waist.

"Mrs. Harris," he said, "no one else in the world could have looked
after me so well when I was poor. No one else shall look after me now
that I am rich. If I leave here, you and Harris must come too, but I
don't think that I shall--not altogether. There are the roses, you
see."

"And what's in that cardboard box?" she asked suspiciously.

"A black silk dress for you," Jacob replied. "You'll give me a kiss
when you see it."

"A black silk dress--for me?" Mrs. Harris faltered, her eyes agleam.
"I don't know what Harris will say!"

"There's a bicycle at the station for h