en my mind to this
extent before. I've hoped--I've always hoped--the wretched boy would
die. But he hasn't. That sort never does. He'll live for ever. And it's a
damned shame that you should sacrifice yourself to him any longer. For
heaven's sake let him go!"

He ceased to speak, and there fell a silence so tense, so electric, that
it seemed as if it must mask something terrible. Dick's face was still
immovable, but he had the look of a man who endures unutterable things.
He had flinched once--and only once--during the squire's speech, and that
was at the first mention of Juliet. But for the rest he had stood quite
rigid, as he stood now, his lips tightly compressed, his eyes looking
straight before him.

He came out of his silence at last with a movement so sudden that it was
as if he flung aside some weight that threatened to overwhelm him. The
arrested vitality flashed back into his face. He threw back his head with
a smile, and looked the squire in the face.

"You haven't left me a leg to stand on, sir," he said. "But all the
same--I stand. There's nothing more to be said except--may I pay for
the window?"

Fielding's hand dropped from his shoulder. He flung round fiercely and
tramped to the window, swearing inarticulately.

Dick's black brows went up again to a humorous angle. He pursed his lips,
but he did not whistle.

"Do you realize that my wife might have been killed?" Fielding
growled at last.

"Oh, quite," said Dick. "I'm glad she wasn't. Ought I to congratulate
her?"

"Oh, don't be so damn funny!" Fielding jingled the money in his pocket
irritably. "You won't laugh when I turn you out."

"I wonder," said Dick.

Fielding turned sharply round upon him. "You behave as if you don't care
what I do," he said, an ugly scowl on his face. "Or perhaps you think I
won't or can't--do it."

"No, sir," Dick spoke deliberately, and though he still smiled his eyes
held the squire's with unmistakable determination. "I'm sure you can do
it. I'm equally sure you won't. And I'm surest of all that I shouldn't
care a damn if you did."

"You wouldn't care!" The squire looked furious for a moment, then he
sneered. "Oh, wouldn't you, my friend? We shall see. You'd better go
now--before I have you kicked out."

Dick's shoulders jerked with a swift tightening of the muscles. His eyes
gleamed with a fierce light though his smile remained. "I'll lay you even
odds," he said, "that if you want that done, you'll have to