und. The chair in which he sat was so placed that
the profile of the person occupying it was thrown by the light of the
lamp directly upon the window-blind. The window faced the bush at the
back of the bank.

He moved his chair until his shadow fell on the wall, but then the lamp
was between her and himself, and he could not watch her face.

"I will take this chair," he said shortly, as he stepped to the one
where she had been sitting when he first came to the room. From it he
commanded not only a complete view of her, but also out of the window,
for the blind, pulled down to the full extent, was slightly askew, and
left a space between it and the window-pane. Through that space he could
see across the yard to the fence running round the allotment, and beyond
it to the dark line of the bush, rendered the darker at the moment by
the soft sheen of the rising moon showing above it.

A silence followed his movement, a silence during which she fidgeted
uneasily and impatiently.

"You do not answer," she said presently. "Shall I go on?"

"I am waiting for you to do so," he replied.

"You will forgive me for mentioning this subject?"

"You have not mentioned any subject yet, Mrs. Eustace. I don't know what
it is you wish to talk about."

"I am afraid it is very distasteful to you. I am not surprised if it is,
but--if you knew everything in connection with it, you might think
differently. That is why I want to tell you."

"Yes," he said indifferently, as she paused.

"You do not want to speak of it," she said again. "But I must explain--I
ought to have done so directly you came up here. I want to explain my
conduct to you when I returned your----"

"There is no need," he interrupted her. "That matter was at an end at
once. There is no benefit to be gained by attempting to revive it."

"I do not seek to revive it," she retorted, colouring at his words.
"Surely if I wish to set straight what I know is not straight, I am not
seeking to revive it? I wish to make one thing clear to you. You have
not known Charlie as long as I have. Neither do you know him as well as
I do. In the face of the accusations made by that police inspector
anything may be said or suspected."

He did not reply, and she went on.

"You, hearing Charlie painted in the blackest colours, are not likely to
raise any protest either to yourself or to anyone else. You will rather
believe all ill of him and will most likely impute things to him he
nev