o treat
him as a friend.

Why, the fellow might be--probably was--a murderer! And, if not that, at
all events there was such a mystery surrounding him, and such an
indelible stain upon his character, that he, Sydney Campion, could not
suffer her to continue that most objectionable acquaintance.

But his duties conspired with his dinner to prevent the visit from being
made before the evening, and it was nearly eight o'clock when he arrived
at Hammersmith. He had dined with a friend in Holborn, and had taken a
Metropolitan train at Farringdon Street, though, as a rule, he held
himself aloof from the poison-traps of London, as he was pleased to call
the underground railway, and travelled mostly in the two-wheeled
gondolas which so lightly float on the surface of the stream above.

As he was about to leave the station, his eye encountered a face and
figure which attracted him, and made him almost involuntarily come to a
standstill. It was Milly Harrington, Lettice's maid, who, having posted
her mistress' letter to Alan Walcott, had turned her listless steps in
this direction.

Milly's life in London had proved something of a disappointment to her.
The cottage on Brook Green was even quieter than the Rectory at
Angleford, where she had at least the companionship of other servants,
and a large acquaintance in the village. Lettice was a kind and
considerate mistress, but a careful one: she did not let the young
country-bred girl go out after dark, and exercised an unusual amount of
supervision over her doings. Of late, these restrictions had begun to
gall Milly, for she contrasted her lot with that of servants in
neighboring houses, and felt that Miss Lettice was a tyrant compared
with the easy-going mistresses of whom she heard. Certainly Miss Lettice
gave good wages, and was always gentle in manner and ready to sympathize
when the girl had bad news of her old grandmother's health; but she did
not allow Milly as much liberty as London servants are accustomed to
enjoy, and Milly, growing learned in her rights by continued comparison,
fretted against the restraints imposed upon her.

She might have "kept company" with the milkman, with the policeman, with
one of the porters at the station: for these, one and all, laid their
hearts and fortunes at her feet; but Milly rejected their overtures with
scorn. Her own prettiness of form and feature had been more than ever
impressed upon her by the offers which she refused; and she