bbed Hilda, with dignity.

"Ah, Mrs. Roberts, that is just what I used to say of Samuel, but he
was the biggest brute in the three kingdoms, for all that; but if you
ask me, meaning no offence, I call a man a brute as only comes to see
his lawful wife about twice a month, let alone making an angel cry."

"Mr. Roberts has his reasons, Mrs. Jacobs; you must not talk of him
like that."

"Ah, so my Samuel used to say when he stopped away from home for three
nights at a time, till I followed him and found out his 'Reason,' and
a mighty pretty 'Reason' she was too, all paint and feathers, the
hussy, and eyes as big as a teacup. They all have their reasons, but
they never tell 'em. But come and put on your things and go out a bit,
there's a dear; it is a beautiful warm evening. You feel tired--oh,
never mind that; it is necessary for people as is in an interested way
to take exercise. I well remembers----"

Here Hilda, however, cut the subject short, and deprived herself of
Mrs. Jacobs' reminiscences by going to put on her things.

It was a bright warm evening, and she found the air so pleasant that,
after strolling round Lincoln's Inn Fields, she thought she would
extend her walk a little, and struck past Lincoln's Inn Hall into New
Square, and then made her way to the archway opposite to where the New
Law Courts now stand. Under this archway a legal bookseller has built
his nest, and behind windows of broad plate-glass were ranged
specimens of his seductive wares, baits on which to catch students
avaricious of legal knowledge as they pass on their way to chambers or
Hall. Now, at this window a young man was standing at the moment that
Hilda entered the archway, his eyes fixed upon a pamphlet on the laws
of succession. That young man was George Caresfoot, who was
considering whether it would be worth his while to buy the pamphlet in
order to see if he would be entitled to anything if his uncle should
happen to die intestate, as he sometimes feared might be the case. He
had come up to town on business connected with his firm, and was now
waiting till it was time to begin an evening of what he understood as
pleasure; for George was a very gay young man.

He was, however, also a very sharp one, so sharp that he even noticed
shadows, especially when, as in this case, the shadow was clearly
defined and flung, life-sized, on the dark background of the books
before him. He watched it for a moment, and as its owner, with an
ab