oked so desolate now, and stared until he
was tired at examples of beautiful French furniture, of which he
understood nothing. Then, oppressed by memories of his kind friend into
whose death chamber he had blundered, and, as it seemed to him, by a
sense of her presence which he imagined was warning him of something,
he left the house, telling the Pasteur, who was peering about him
through his blue spectacles in an innocent and interested way, that he
would meet him at the five o'clock diligence. Indeed, he had business
of his own to do, which seemed to him more important than all this
stock-taking and legal discussion. Having plenty of money in his pocket
Godfrey wished to spend some of it in presents.

First, he bought a large meerschaum pipe with a flexible stem as a gift
to the Pasteur, whom he had heard admire this very pipe in the shop
window and express regrets that it was too expensive for his means.
Having paid down thirty francs like a man for this treasure, he
proceeded to a jeweller's near by. There he acquired a necklace of
amethysts set with great taste in local silver work, for Madame to
wear, and a charming silver watch of the best Swiss make for Juliette.
When he found that these objects involved an expenditure of fourteen
sovereigns, he was a little staggered, but again smiled and paid up.
There was also a lovely little ring of gold with two turquoise hearts
that he bought for L2 to send to Isobel _when_ she wrote to him. But,
as Isobel had posted her letter in Mr. Knight's drawer, that ring never
reached her finger for many a day.

These gifts safely in his pocket, he began to stroll towards the
railway station, whence the diligence started, slowly, as he had plenty
of time. As he went he saw, in a shop window, a beautiful stick of
olive wood, with an ebony crook. It was marked ten francs, and he
coveted it greatly, but reflected with a sigh that having spent so much
on others he could afford nothing for himself, for Godfrey was an
unselfish soul. Instead he bought a collar of Swiss lace for Mrs.
Parsons. Immediately after he left the lace shop he became aware that
he was being shadowed. He heard no footfall, and he saw no one, but he
_knew_ that this was so; he could feel it down his back, and in a cold
wind which blew across his hands, as it had done always at the Villa
Ogilvy seances.

The road that he was following led across some public gardens beneath
an avenue of trees, which, of course, at t