he had seen a little way into Havill's soul during the
brief period of their confederacy. But he was very far from saying what
he guessed. Yet he unconsciously revealed by other words the nocturnal
shades in his character which had made that confederacy possible.

'Somerset coming after all!' he replied. 'By God! that little
six-barrelled friend of mine, and a good resolution, and he would never
arrive!'

'What!' said Captain De Stancy, paling with horror as he gathered the
other's sinister meaning.

Dare instantly recollected himself. 'One is tempted to say anything at
such a moment,' he replied hastily.

'Since he is to come, let him come, for me,' continued De Stancy, with
reactionary distinctness, and still gazing gravely into the young man's
face. 'The battle shall be fairly fought out. Fair play, even to a
rival--remember that, boy.... Why are you here?--unnaturally concerning
yourself with the passions of a man of my age, as if you were the
parent, and I the son? Would to heaven, Willy, you had done as I wished
you to do, and led the life of a steady, thoughtful young man! Instead
of meddling here, you should now have been in some studio, college, or
professional man's chambers, engaged in a useful pursuit which
might have made one proud to own you. But you were so precocious
and headstrong; and this is what you have come to: you promise to be
worthless!'

'I think I shall go to my lodgings to-day instead of staying here over
these pictures,' said Dare, after a silence during which Captain De
Stancy endeavoured to calm himself. 'I was going to tell you that
my dinner to-day will unfortunately be one of herbs, for want of
the needful. I have come to my last stiver.--You dine at the mess, I
suppose, captain?'

De Stancy had walked away; but Dare knew that he played a pretty sure
card in that speech. De Stancy's heart could not withstand the suggested
contrast between a lonely meal of bread-and-cheese and a well-ordered
dinner amid cheerful companions. 'Here,' he said, emptying his pocket
and returning to the lad's side. 'Take this, and order yourself a good
meal. You keep me as poor as a crow. There shall be more to-morrow.'

The peculiarly bifold nature of Captain De Stancy, as shown in his
conduct at different times, was something rare in life, and perhaps
happily so. That mechanical admixture of black and white qualities
without coalescence, on which the theory of men's characters was based
by moral ana