for I may inform you that I have heard all that
my butler can tell me, which means all that he can ascertain by shrewd
and persistent inquiry."

"I am flattered by the attention of my neighbours," I replied, "and I
can quite understand that in a little place like this the advent of a
stranger will create a mild sensation, but I was not aware that there
was anything so dreadful as a 'report' in circulation. The knowledge
makes me uneasy; can you relieve my anxiety?"

He was walking along with his hands holding the lapels of his jacket,
his light overcoat blowing about behind him, and he looked quizzically
at me for a moment or two before he replied:

"I think you are able to take it in good part, for--if you will permit
me to say so--I judge that you have too much common sense to be easily
offended, and therefore I will admit that the villagers are prepared to
look upon you as slightly 'daft,' to use their own expression. They
cannot understand how, on any other supposition, you should act on a
momentary impulse and leave the excitements of the metropolis for the
simple life of a tiny village. I need hardly say that I realise that
this is distinctly your own affair, and I am not asking you to give me
your confidence, but you will not mind my telling you in what light the
village regards this somewhat--unusual conduct."

I laughed. Goodness knows I am not touchy, and the opinion of my
neighbours only amused me. But somehow I felt that I must justify my
action to the squire, and my Inner Self put on her defensive armour in
readiness for the battle. I seemed to know that this rather stern old
man would regard my action as childish,--and indeed the scheme could
not be regarded as reasonable; it was simply intuitive, and who can
defend an intuition? I therefore replied:

"You have certainly relieved my disquietude. I thought the villagers
might have conceived the notion that I was a fugitive from justice, and
had a good reason for hiding myself in an out-of-the-way place. If
they consider me inoffensive in my daftness I am quite content; for,
after all, there are hundreds of people of much wider experience who
would be not a whit more lenient in their judgment. In fact, I suspect
that you yourself would endorse it emphatically, especially when I
admit that the premise is correct from which the conclusion is drawn."

"You invite my interest," he returned, "but your silence will be a
sufficient rebuke if my inqu