m."

"Instead of what?"

"Gehennum, my dear; a place where they drive men into the wilderness and
cut them off from supplies, and they rot in damp caves, destitute of
bread, beer, and even tobacco."

"No; I really can't supply that last. If I let you smoke, some old cat
would come sniffing round to-morrow morning, and say, 'Phew! a _man_ has
been here.' Good food and drink you shall have, but no tobacco."

"But you'll let me wash?"

"Certainly. Cleanliness is next to godliness. If you can't have the one,
I wouldn't bar you from the other." She led him to the door of her
bedroom, and said, "Walk in."

The room was a dainty affair of muslin blinds and bed-hangings. To
Benjamin it was a holy of holies dedicated to the sweet, the lovely,
the inscrutable. All the feminine gear lying around, the little pots of
powder and ointment, the strange medicaments for the hair, the mirrors,
the row of little shoes, the bits of jewellery lying on fat pincushions,
the skirts and wrappers and feminine finery hanging behind the door,
these and fifty other things appealed to the softest spot in his
susceptible nature. He took up the ewer, and poured water into the
basin; but he was ashamed to place his dirty coat on a thing so clean
as was the solitary dimity-covered chair, so he put the ragged garment
on the floor. Then he took up a pink cake of soap, and commenced his
ablutions.

A strong and agreeable odour tickled his olfactory nerves--the cooking
had begun. Though his ears were full of lather, he could hear the meat
frying in the pan, and the spluttering of the fat.

"What punishment do they give to people who harbour malefactors?" Gentle
Annie called from over her cooking.

"Who's a malefactor?" called Tresco from the middle of a towel with
which he was drying his roseate face.

"What are _you_ then?"

"I'm a gentleman at large, my dear. No one has charged me with anything
yet, let alone convicted me."

"But there's a warrant out against you, old gentleman."

"Maybe. I haven't seen it."

"But what's _my_ position?"

"You're accessory after the fact, if there is a fact."

"What am I liable for?"

"That depends on the judge, my dear. It might be two, three, or more
kisses. If I was on the bench, the sentence would be as heavy as
possible, and I'd insist on executing it myself."

A laugh came from over the frying-pan.

"If you're not careful, old party, you'll have some of this hot fat on
your head."

Benjamin