uldn't go on as my potman and--more than that--why shouldn't you
marry a nice woman yourself and bring her here, if you've got a mind to
it!"

He expressed no indignation. Again, it seemed that the future was his
sole concern and that he designed to waste no warmth on his
disappointment.

"There never was but one woman for me and never will be; and as to
stopping here, I might, or I might not, for I've always had my feelings
under very nice control and shouldn't break the rule of a lifetime. But
you won't be at 'The Seven Stars' yourself much longer, and I certainly
don't serve under any other but you. In fact this house and garden would
only be a deserted wilderness to my view, if you wasn't reigning over
'em."

He spoke in his usual emotionless voice, but he woke very active
phenomena in Mrs. Northover. Her face grew troubled and she looked into
his eyes with a frown.

"Me gone! What do you mean, Legg? Me leave 'The Seven Stars' after
thirty-four years?"

"No doubt your first would turn in his grave if you did," he admitted;
"but what about it? When you're mistress of 'The Tiger'--well, then
you're mistress of 'The Tiger,' and you can't be in two places at
once--clever as you are."

He had given her something to think about. The possibility of guile in
Mr. Legg had never struck the least, or greatest, of his admirers. He
was held a simple soul of transparent probity, yet, for a moment, it
almost seemed as though his last remark carried an inner meaning. Nelly
dismissed the suspicion as unworthy of Job; but none the less, though he
had doubtless spoken without any sinister purpose, his opinions gave her
pause. Indeed, they shook her. She had been too much excited to look
ahead. Now she was called to do so.

Mr. Legg removed the bunch of keys from its nail and prepared to go on
his way.

She felt weak.

"To play second fiddle for the rest of your life after playing first for
a quarter of a century is a far-reaching thought," she said.

"Without a doubt it would be," he admitted. "Of course, with some men
you wouldn't be called to do it. With Richard Gurd, you would."

"To leave 'The Seven Stars'! Somehow I'd always regarded our place as a
higher class establishment than 'The Tiger'--along of the tea-gardens
and pleasure ground and the class of company."

"And quite right to do so. But that's only your opinion, and mine. It
won't be his. Good night."

He left her deep in thought, then five minutes after