can do for you when she comes?
Nothing wanted? No errand?"

"Well, sir, taking it kindly, sir, there's them finings in the cellar
a-wants doing bad, and the boy as ought to do 'em, he's that grumpysome,
as I declare--"

"Quite right, Mrs. Drayton. Send the girl down to them the moment she
comes in, and keep her down until bed-time."

"Thank you, sir! I'm sure I takes it very kind and thoughtful of a
gentleman to say as much, and no call, neither."

The landlady shuffled down-stairs, wagging gratefully her dense old
noddle; the thoughtful gentleman left the key of Drayton's room in the
lock on the outside of the door, and ascended a ladder that went up from
the end of the passage. He knocked at a door at the top. At first there
was no answer. A dull shuffling of feet could be heard from within.
"Come, open the door," said Hugh, impatiently.

The door was opened cautiously. Drayton stood behind it. Hugh Ritson
entered. There was no light in the room; the red, smoking wick of a
tallow candle, newly extinguished, was filling the air with its stench.

"You take care of yourself," said Hugh. "Let us have a light."

Drayton went down on his knees in the dark, fumbled on the floor for a
box of lucifers, and relighted the candle. He was in his shirt-sleeves.

"Cold without your coat, eh?" said Hugh. A sneer played about his lips.

Without answering, Drayton turned to a mattress that lay in the gloom of
one corner, lifted it, took up a coat that lay under it, and put it on.
It was the ulster with the torn lapel.

Hugh Ritson followed Drayton's movements, and laughed slightly. "Men
like you are always cautious in the wrong place," he said. "Let them lay
hands on you, and they won't be long finding your--coat." The last word
had a contemptuous dig of emphasis.

"Damme if I won't burn it, for good and all," muttered Drayton. His
manner was dogged and subdued.

"No, you won't do that," said Hugh, and he eyed him largely. The garret
was empty save for the mattress and the blanket that lay on it, and two
or three plates, with the refuse of food, on the floor. It was a low
room, with a skylight in the rake of the roof, which sloped down to a
sharp angle. There was no window. The walls were half timbered, and had
once been plastered, but the laths were now bare in many places.

"Heard anything?" said Drayton, doggedly.

"Yes; I called and told the police sergeant that I thought I was on the
scent."

"What? No!"

The t