At the end of a month Mr Rimbolt wrote to say he was coming down to
Wildtree, and would be glad if Percy and Jeffreys would meet him with
the carriage at Overstone.

They did so, and found that he was not alone. Mr Halgrove stepped
pleasantly out of the train at the same time and greeted his quondam
ward with characteristic ease.

"Ah, Jeffreys--here we are again. I'm always meeting you at odd places.
How fresh everything looks after the rain!"

"Mr Halgrove is my brother-in-law, you know, Jeffreys," said Mr
Rimbolt, in response to his librarian's blank look of consternation. "I
brought him down, as he wanted to see you and have a talk. If you two
would like to walk," added he, "Percy and I will drive on, and have
dinner ready by the time you arrive."

"Good-hearted fellow, Rimbolt," said Mr Halgrove, as they started to
walk, "he always was. That's Wild Pike, I suppose?"

"Yes," said Jeffreys, greatly puzzled at this unexpected meeting.

"Yes, Rimbolt's a good fellow; and doesn't mind telling bad fellows that
they aren't. You'll smile, Jeffreys; but he has actually made me
uncomfortable sometimes."

"Really?" said Jeffreys, thinking it must have been some very remarkable
effort which succeeded in accomplishing, that wonder.

"Yes. I told him once casually about an unpleasant ward I once had,
whom I rather disliked. I thought he would sympathise with me when I
related how delicately I had got rid of him and sent him adrift when it
did not suit me to keep him any longer. Would you believe it, Rimbolt
wasn't at all sympathetic, but asked what had become of my ward's money!
Do take warning, Jeffreys, and avoid the bad habit of asking
inconvenient questions. You have no idea of the pain they may cause.
Mr Rimbolt's question pained me excessively. Because my ward's money,
like himself, had gone to the bad. That would not have been of much
consequence, were it not that I was responsible for its going to the
bad. It was most inconvenient altogether, I assure you. It made me
feel as if I had behaved not quite well in the matter; and you know how
depressing such a feeling would be. Still more inconvenient at the time
when I had this talk with Rimbolt about six months ago, I had just come
back from America with my finances in not at all a flourishing
condition, so that if even I had been disposed to refund my ward, I
could not have done it. Happily he was lost. It was an immense relief
to me, I can assure