ut Mrs. Goddard
hardly noticed his reply.

"Will you leave me alone with him?" she said presently. "There is a bell
in the room--I could ring if anything--happened," she added with mournful
hesitation.

"Certainly," answered the squire. "Only, I beg of you my dear friend--do
not distress yourself needlessly--"

"Needlessly!" she repeated with a sorrowful smile. "It is all I can do
for him--to watch by his side. He will not live--he will not live, I am
sure."

The squire inwardly prayed that she might be right, and left her alone
with the sick man. Who, he thought, was better fitted, who had a stronger
right to be at his bedside at such a time? If only he might die! For if
he lived, how much more terrible would the separation be, when Booley the
detective came to conduct him back to his prison! In truth, it would be
more terrible even than Mr. Juxon imagined.

Meanwhile he must go and see to the rest of the household. He must speak
to John Short; he must see Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose, and he must take
precautions against any of them seeing Mr. Booley. This was, he thought,
very important, and he resolved to speak with the latter first. John was
probably asleep, worn out with the watching of the night.

Mr. Booley sat in the squire's study where he had been left almost an
hour earlier. He had installed himself in a comfortable corner by the
fire and was reading the morning paper which he had found unopened upon
the table. He seemed thoroughly at home as he sat there, a pair of
glasses upon his nose and his feet stretched out towards the flame upon
the hearth.

"Thank you, I am doing very well, Mr. Juxon," he said as the squire
entered.

"Oh--I am very glad," answered Mr. Juxon politely. The information was
wholly voluntary as he had not asked any question concerning the
detective's comfort.

"And how is the patient?" inquired Mr. Booley. "Do you think there is any
chance of removing him this afternoon?"

"This afternoon?" repeated the squire, in some astonishment. "The man is
very ill. It may be weeks before he can be removed."

"Oh!" ejaculated the other. "I was not aware of that. I cannot possibly
stay so long. To-morrow, at the latest, he will have to go."

"But, my dear sir," argued Mr. Juxon, "the thing is quite impossible. The
doctor can testify to that--"

"We are apt to be our own doctors in these cases," said Mr. Booley,
calmly. "At all events he can be taken as far as the county gaol."

"Upon my wo