tations on one side and by useless
self-reproaches on the other--occupied much more time than either mother
or son had imagined. It was not till the clock in Mr. Blyth's hall
struck, that Mrs. Thorpe discovered how much longer her absence from
home had lasted than she had intended it should on leaving Baregrove
Square. She rose directly, in great trepidation--took a hurried leave
of Valentine, who was loitering about his front garden--sent the kindest
messages she could think of to the ladies above stairs--and departed at
once for home. Zack escorted her to the entrance of the square; and,
on taking leave, showed the sincerity of his contrition in a very
unexpected and desperate manner, by actually offering to return home
then and there with his mother, if she wished it! Mrs. Thorpe's heart
yearned to take him at his word, but she remembered the doctor's orders
and the critical condition of her husband's health; and forced herself
to confess to Zack that the favorable time for his return had not yet
arrived. After this--with mutual promises to communicate again soon
through Valentine--they parted very sadly, just at the entrance of
Baregrove Square: Mrs. Thorpe hurrying nervously to her own door, Zack
returning gloomily to Mr. Blyth's house.

Meanwhile, how had Mat been occupying himself, since he had left his
young friend alone in the lodging in Kirk Street?

He had really gone out, as Zack had supposed, for one of those long
night-walks of his, which usually took him well into the country before
the first grey of daylight had spread far over the sky. On ordinary
occasions, he only indulged in these oddly-timed pedestrian excursions
because the restless habits engendered by his vagabond life, made him
incapable of conforming to civilized hours by spending the earliest part
of the morning, like other people, inactively in bed. On this particular
occasion, however, he had gone out with something like a special
purpose; for he had left Kirk Street, not so much for the sake of taking
a walk, as for the sake of thinking clearly and at his ease. Mat's
brain was never so fertile in expedients as when he was moving his limbs
freely in the open air.

Hardly a chance word had dropped from Zack that night which had not
either confirmed him in his resolution to possess himself of Valentine's
Hair Bracelet, or helped to suggest to him the manner in which his
determination to obtain it might be carried out. The first great
nece