u need; for though I am old, I am very strong.
It is but three steps to my carriage, and there all your trouble ends.
Why, Will,' he added, 'I have been yearning for you as if you were my own
son; and of all the men that ever I came for in my long days, I have come
for you most gladly. I am caustic, and sometimes offend people at first
sight; but I am a good friend at heart to such as you.'

'Since Marjory was taken,' returned Will, 'I declare before God you were
the only friend I had to look for.' So the pair went arm-in-arm across
the courtyard.

One of the servants awoke about this time and heard the noise of horses
pawing before he dropped asleep again; all down the valley that night
there was a rushing as of a smooth and steady wind descending towards the
plain; and when the world rose next morning, sure enough Will o' the Mill
had gone at last upon his travels.

MARKHEIM

'Yes,' said the dealer, 'our windfalls are of various kinds. Some
customers are ignorant, and then I touch a dividend on my superior
knowledge. Some are dishonest,' and here he held up the candle, so that
the light fell strongly on his visitor, 'and in that case,' he continued,
'I profit by my virtue.'

Markheim had but just entered from the daylight streets, and his eyes had
not yet grown familiar with the mingled shine and darkness in the shop.
At these pointed words, and before the near presence of the flame, he
blinked painfully and looked aside.

The dealer chuckled. 'You come to me on Christmas Day,' he resumed,
'when you know that I am alone in my house, put up my shutters, and make
a point of refusing business. Well, you will have to pay for that; you
will have to pay for my loss of time, when I should be balancing my
books; you will have to pay, besides, for a kind of manner that I remark
in you to-day very strongly. I am the essence of discretion, and ask no
awkward questions; but when a customer cannot look me in the eye, he has
to pay for it.' The dealer once more chuckled; and then, changing to his
usual business voice, though still with a note of irony, 'You can give,
as usual, a clear account of how you came into the possession of the
object?' he continued. 'Still your uncle's cabinet? A remarkable
collector, sir!'

And the little pale, round-shouldered dealer stood almost on tip-toe,
looking over the top of his gold spectacles, and nodding his head with
every mark of disbelief. Markheim returned his gaze