the sick man was married to Lizzie, and from that hour he began to get
better, till before long they knew that he would recover.

Meanwhile, not waiting to see the result of his murderous attack,
Headstone had fled down the river bank to the hut where Riderhood lived
and there the villainous lock tender let him rest and sleep. As the
schoolmaster tossed in his guilty slumber, Riderhood noted that his
clothes were like his own. He unbuttoned the sleeping man's jacket, saw
the red handkerchief, and, having heard from a passing boatman of the
attempted murder, he guessed that Headstone had done it and saw how he
had plotted to lay the crime on him.

When the schoolmaster went away Riderhood followed him, watched him
change clothes in the bushes and rescued the bloody garments the other
threw away.

With these in his hands he faced the schoolmaster one day in his class
room and made him promise, under threat of exposure, to come that night
to the hut by the lock. Headstone was afraid to disobey. When he came,
Riderhood told him he must give him money at once or he would follow
him till he did.

Headstone refused and, as the other had threatened, when he started back
to London, he found the lock tender by his side. He returned to the hut
and the other did the same.

He started again, and again the other walked beside him. Then Headstone,
turning suddenly, caught Riderhood around the waist and dragged him to
the edge of the lock.

"Let go!" said Riderhood. "You can't drown me!"

"I can," panted Headstone. "And I can drown myself. I'll hold you living
and I'll hold you dead. Come down!"

Riderhood went over backward into the water, and the schoolmaster upon
him. When they found them, long afterward, Riderhood's body was girdled
still with the schoolmaster's arms and they held him tight.

This was the awful end of the two wicked men whom fate had brought into
Lizzie's life.

All this time, of course, Bella had been believing her husband to be
very poor. At first he had intended to tell her who he was on the day
they were married, but he said to himself: "No, she's so unselfish and
contented I can't afford to be rich yet." So he pretended to get a
position in the city at small wages. Then after a few months he thought
it over again, and he said to himself, "She's such a cheerful little
housewife that I can't afford to be rich yet." And at last a little baby
was born to Bella, and then they were so happy that he said,