The sooner Humplebee arrived the better; fortune
awaited him.'

It was decided that he should leave for London in two days.

The next evening he came to spend an hour or two with Mary and her father.
On entering the room he at once observed something strange in the looks
with which he was greeted. Mary had a pale, miserable air, and could hardly
speak. Mr. Bowes, after looking at him fixedly for a moment, exclaimed--

'Have you seen to-day's paper?'

'I've been too busy,' he replied. 'What has happened?'

'Isn't your London man called Geldershaw?'

'Yes,' murmured Humplebee, with a sinking of the heart.

'Well, the police are after him; he has bolted. It's a long-firm swindle
that he's been up to. You know what that means? Obtaining goods on false
credit, and raising money on them. What's more, young Chadwick is arrested;
he came before the magistrates yesterday, charged with being an accomplice.
Here it is; read it for yourself.'

Humplebee dropped into a chair. When his eyes undazzled, he read the full
report which Mr. Bowes had summarised. It was the death-blow of his hopes.

'Leonard Chadwick has been a victim, not a swindler,' sounded from him in a
feeble voice. 'You see, he says that Geldershaw has robbed him of all his
money--that he is ruined.'

'He _says_ so,' remarked Mr. Bowes with angry irony.

'I believe him,' said Humplebee. His eyes sought Mary's. The girl regarded
him steadily, and she spoke in a low firm voice--'I, too, believe him.'

'Whether or no,' said Mr. Bowes, thrusting his hands into his pockets, 'the
upshot of it is, Humplebee, that you've lost a good place through trusting
him. I had my doubts; but you were in a hurry, and didn't ask advice. If
this had happened a week later, the police would have laid hands on you as
well.'

'So there's something to be thankful for, at all events,' said Mary.

Again Humplebee met her eyes. He saw that she would not forsake him.

He had to begin life over again--that was all.

THE SCRUPULOUS FATHER

It was market day in the little town; at one o'clock a rustic company
besieged the table of the Greyhound, lured by savoury odours and the
frothing of amber ale. Apart from three frequenters of the ordinary, in a
small room prepared for overflow, sat two persons of a different stamp--a
middle-aged man, bald, meagre, unimpressive, but wholly respectable in
bearing and apparel, and a girl, evidently his daughter, who had the look
of the lat