nod which he took for
an invitation to him to follow her. They passed through the little
wash-house into the inner room, and Mrs. Higgs seated herself by the
fire, and gave her visitor another nod to imply that he might be seated
also.

But Dudley was not in a friendly mood. He would not even come near the
hearth, but remained close to the door by which he had entered, and gave
searching look round the room.

The apartment was so small and so bare that it was not difficult to take
stock of its contents, and Mrs. Higgs laughed ironically.

"Isn't the place furnished to your liking?" she asked in a mocking tone.
"Are you looking for the sofas and the sideboards and the silver and the
plate?"

Dudley cast at the old woman a look which was more eloquent than he knew
of hatred and disgust.

"No," said he, shortly. "I was looking to see whether any of your
precious pals were about."

Mrs. Higgs drew her chair nearer to the deal table, and leaning on it
with her head resting in her hands, stared at him malignantly.

"My precious pals! My precious pals!" muttered she to herself in an
angry tone. "That's the way he talks to me! To me, he owes so much to!
Ah! Ah! Ah!"

These three last ejaculations were uttered with so much suppressed
passion, and there gleamed in her dull eyes such a dull look of stupid
ferocity, that Dudley withdrew his attention from the cupboard and walls
and transferred it wholly to her. After a pause, during which the two
seemed to measure each other with cautious eyes, he said, abruptly:

"Do you know why I have come here to-night?"

"To show me a little gratitude at last, perhaps," suggested Mrs. Higgs,
sharply. "To do your duty--yes, it's no more than your duty, you know,
to do what I tell you--and to help yourself in helping me. That's true,
isn't it?"

Dudley stared at her in silence for a few moments before he answered:

"Duty is an odd word to use--a very odd word. But we won't waste time
discussing that. You sent a message to me by a girl this evening?"

Mrs. Higgs nodded.

"You want me to defend one of the rascals who make this place their
hole, their den?"

Again Mrs. Higgs signified assent.

"Well, I shall do nothing of the kind. I have done more than enough for
you already. I have offered you the means of taking yourself off and of
living like a decent creature. I have done everything you could expect,
and more. But I will not be mixed up with you and the gang you choose to