the ground in turning his body
from him, but made no other answer.

'How were you taken?' he asked. 'And where? You never told me more than
half your secret. No matter; I know it now. How was it, and where, eh?'
he asked again, coming still nearer to him.

'At Chigwell,' said the other.

'At Chigwell! How came you there?'

'Because I went there to avoid the man I stumbled on,' he answered.
'Because I was chased and driven there, by him and Fate. Because I was
urged to go there, by something stronger than my own will. When I found
him watching in the house she used to live in, night after night, I knew
I never could escape him--never! and when I heard the Bell--'

He shivered; muttered that it was very cold; paced quickly up and down
the narrow cell; and sitting down again, fell into his old posture.

'You were saying,' said the blind man, after another pause, 'that when
you heard the Bell--'

'Let it be, will you?' he retorted in a hurried voice. 'It hangs there
yet.'

The blind man turned a wistful and inquisitive face towards him, but he
continued to speak, without noticing him.

'I went to Chigwell, in search of the mob. I have been so hunted and
beset by this man, that I knew my only hope of safety lay in joining
them. They had gone on before; I followed them when it left off.'

'When what left off?'

'The Bell. They had quitted the place. I hoped that some of them might
be still lingering among the ruins, and was searching for them when
I heard--' he drew a long breath, and wiped his forehead with his
sleeve--'his voice.'

'Saying what?'

'No matter what. I don't know. I was then at the foot of the turret,
where I did the--'

'Ay,' said the blind man, nodding his head with perfect composure, 'I
understand.'

'I climbed the stair, or so much of it as was left; meaning to hide till
he had gone. But he heard me; and followed almost as soon as I set foot
upon the ashes.'

'You might have hidden in the wall, and thrown him down, or stabbed
him,' said the blind man.

'Might I? Between that man and me, was one who led him on--I saw it,
though he did not--and raised above his head a bloody hand. It was in
the room above that HE and I stood glaring at each other on the night of
the murder, and before he fell he raised his hand like that, and fixed
his eyes on me. I knew the chase would end there.'

'You have a strong fancy,' said the blind man, with a smile.

'Strengthen yours with blood, and see w