n amazement.

"What!" I cried, "that quiet, studious, sad-faced man?"

"The greatest rip and debauchee in England! All between ourselves,
Colmore. But you understand now what I mean when I say that a woman's
voice in his room might even now give rise to suspicions."

"But what can have changed him so?"

"Little Beryl Clare, when she took the risk of becoming his wife. That
was the turning point. He had got so far that his own fast set had
thrown him over. There is a world of difference, you know, between a
man who drinks and a drunkard. They all drink, but they taboo a
drunkard. He had become a slave to it--hopeless and helpless. Then
she stepped in, saw the possibilities of a fine man in the wreck, took
her chance in marrying him though she might have had the pick of a
dozen, and, by devoting her life to it, brought him back to manhood and
decency. You have observed that no liquor is ever kept in the house.
There never has been any since her foot crossed its threshold. A drop
of it would be like blood to a tiger even now."

"Then her influence still holds him?"

"That is the wonder of it. When she died three years ago, we all
expected and feared that he would fall back into his old ways. She
feared it herself, and the thought gave a terror to death, for she was
like a guardian angel to that man, and lived only for the one purpose.
By the way, did you see a black japanned box in his room?"

"Yes."

"I fancy it contains her letters. If ever he has occasion to be away,
if only for a single night, he invariably takes his black japanned box
with him. Well, well, Colmore, perhaps I have told you rather more
than I should, but I shall expect you to reciprocate if anything of
interest should come to your knowledge."

I could see that the worthy man was consumed with curiosity and just a
little piqued that I, the newcomer, should have been the first to
penetrate into the untrodden chamber. But the fact raised me in his
esteem, and from that time onwards I found myself upon more
confidential terms with him.

And now the silent and majestic figure of my employer became an object
of greater interest to me. I began to understand that strangely human
look in his eyes, those deep lines upon his care-worn face. He was a
man who was fighting a ceaseless battle, holding at arm's length, from
morning till night, a horrible adversary who was forever trying to
close with him--an adversary which would destroy him