knowledge than other people of the events
which led to the drawing-up of Mrs. Errington's strange will. He was one
of the many men who admired Mrs. Errington while wondering at her narrow
and excommunicative disposition. And he stopped to speak to her with the
eager readiness which is so flattering to a woman. The spring, so much
discussed, was lightly discussed again, and, by some inadvertence, no
doubt, Captain Hindford, who was almost as genial as if he had lived in
the days of Dickens, was led to exclaim--

"By Jove, Mrs. Errington, this first sunshine's as seductive as a pretty
child--makes one ready to do anything! Why, I saw an old
crossing-sweeper just now sweeping nothing at all--for it's as dry as a
bone, you see--and I had to fork out a sixpence; encouraged useless
industry just because of the change in the weather, 'pon my word, eh?"

Mrs. Errington's lips tightened ever so little.

"A great mistake, Captain Hindford," she said drily.

Horace looked at his mother with a sort of bright, boyish curiosity.
Although he knew so well what her nature was like, it did not cease to
surprise him.

"You think so?" said the Captain. "Well, perhaps, you're right; I don't
know. Daresay I've been a fool. Still, you know a fool in sunshine is
better than a wise man in a fog; 'pon my word, yes, eh?"

Mrs. Errington did not verbally agree, and they parted after the Captain
had accepted an invitation to dine quietly in Park Lane that evening.

"Devilish odd woman, devilish odd!" was Hindford's comment. And he
watched the mother's and son's retreating figures with a certain
astonishment.

"Wonder what the boy thinks of her?" he muttered. "Jove, if there isn't
a beggar going after them! She'll soon settle him!"

And he remained standing to watch the encounter. From where he stood he
had seen the beggar, who had been half-sitting, half-lying, on a bench
facing the water, glance up at Mrs. Errington and her son as they
passed, partially raise himself up, gaze after them, and finally rise to
his feet and follow their footsteps. Hindford could only see the man's
back. It was long, slightly bending, and apparently youngish. A thin but
scrupulously neat coat of some poor shiny and black material covered it,
and hung from the man's shoulders loosely, forming two folds which were
almost like two gently rounded hills with a shallow valley running
between them up to the blades of the shoulders. Certainly the coat
didn't fit very