end Pope of the doings on Garrison Hill,
and, so far as he allowed himself to be jocose, he meant his glance to
be interpreted. "Well, you are a pretty fellow! And pray what account
are you going to give of yourself?" But very different thoughts
preoccupied the Commandant, and his fears took alarm.

"Good morning," said the Commandant, and forced a smile. "You have been
expecting me, I hope?"

"Dear, dear!" Mr. Fossell affected surprise. "You don't tell me that
pay-day has come round again already?" This again, was a form of
pleasantry which he repeated month after month; but to-day he slightly
over-acted it.

"The--the money is here?" stammered the Commandant.

"My dear Major, I hope so--I sincerely hope so," Mr. Fossell answered,
with a humorous look around him. "I do most sincerely trust we may be
able to meet your demand for--let me see, fifteen-eighteen-six, is it
not?--without being forced to put up the shutters." Mr. Fossell
chuckled quietly.

The Commandant drew a long breath.

"Always supposing," resumed Mr. Fossell, "that the draft is in order,
as usual; on which point, to tell you the truth, I have been too busy
to satisfy myself. But the paper arrived two days ago, and is in my
office--if you will excuse me for a moment."

He stepped towards a door at the back, panelled with frosted glass,
opened it, and disappeared into his office. The Commandant waited.
Three minutes passed.

"Very fine weather, sir, for the time of the year," said the clerk,
blotting an entry and looking up from his ledger.

"Eh? Oh, certainly ... yes, very fine indeed." The Commandant recalled
himself with a painful effort.

"And the glass steady as a rock." The clerk closed a smaller book at
his elbow and replaced it in a line of similar volumes on a shelf above
the desk behind him. "I saw you out, sir, in your boat, the day before
yesterday, to the west of Saaron--fishing for bass, or so I took the
liberty of guessing."

"For bass?... Yes, oh, most decidedly."

"Knowing fish, the bass!" hazarded the young man, combing his
side-locks with his pen and carefully bestowing it behind his ear. "You
found the water a bit too clear, sir, I expect?"

"So far as I remember--" began the Commandant, and paused. (What on
earth was delaying Fossell?)

"You will excuse me, sir, but might I ask what bait you employ as a
rule?"

The Commandant answered that for preference he used sand-eels. The
clerk replied that sand-eels took som