meeting. And the feeling on her side? Well, that he could not
pretend to be ignorant of, and, in spite of everything, there was still
the same half-acknowledged pleasure in the thought. He tried to
persuade himself that he should have the moral courage to let her as
soon as possible understand his new position; he also tried to believe
that this would not involve any serious shock to Ida. For all that, he
knew only too well that man is "_ein erbarmlicher Schuft_," and there
was always the possibility that he might say nothing of what had
happened, and let things take their course.

On the Monday he was already looking forward to the meeting with
restlessness. Could he have foreseen that anything would occur to
prevent his keeping his promise, it would have caused him extreme
anxiety. But such a possibility never entered his thoughts, and,
shortly before mid-day, he went down to collect his rents as usual.

The effect of a hard winter was seen in the decrease of the collector's
weekly receipts. The misery of cold and starvation was growing familiar
to Waymark's eyes, and scarcely excited the same feelings as formerly;
yet there were some cases in which he had not the heart to press for
the payment of rent, and his representations to Mr. Woodstock on behalf
of the poor creatures were more frequently successful than in former
times. Still, in the absence of then but eviction, and Waymark more
than once knew what ideal philanthropy, there was nothing for it every
now and it was to be cursed to his face by suffering wretches whom
despair made incapable of discrimination. "Where are we to go?" was the
oft-repeated question, and the only reply was a shrug of the shoulders;
impossible to express oneself otherwise. They clung desperately to
habitations so vile that brutes would have forsaken them for cleaner
and warmer retreats in archway and by roadside. One family of seven, a
man and wife (both ill) with five children, could not be got out, even
when a man had been sent by Mr. Woodstock to remove the window-frames
and take the door away, furniture having already been seized; only by
force at length were they thrown into the street, to find their way to
perdition as best they might. Waymark did not relish all this; it cost
him a dark hour now and then. But it was rich material; every item was
stored up for future use.

Among others, the man named Slimy just managed to hold his footing.
Times were hard with Slimy, that was cl