ly well that for years to come you could not
give her a decent roof over her head, and that if her family wanted her to
live like a Christian they would have to give her the money to do it with;
and if you are fool enough not to know that when she sent you first to me
and then to her mother she was tryin' to get rid of you without hurtin'
your feelin's, why, then, I want you to get out of my sight, and the
quicker the better. But if you are not so low down as that, go to your
room and pack up your bag. The coach will start for the train at three
o'clock, and it is now nearly half-past two; that will just give me time
to write to Hendricks. Go!"

Martin rose. Whatever happened afterwards, he must go now. It seemed to
him as if the whole world had suddenly grown colder; as if he had been
floating in a fog and had neared an iceberg. Could it be possible that she
had spoken, as she had spoken, simply to get rid of him? He could not
believe it. No one with such honest eyes could speak in that way; and yet
he did not know what to believe.

In any case, he would go away in the coach. He had spoken to Sadler, and
now, whether he spoke to any one else or not, the sooner he left the
better.

When he came to take the coach, Peter Sadler, who had rolled himself to
the front of the house, handed him the letter he had written.

"I believe you are made of the right kind of stuff," he said, "although
you've got a little mouldy by bein' lazy out there in the woods, but
you're all right now; and what you've got to do is to go ahead with a
will, and, take my word for it, you'll come out on top. Do you want any
money? No? Very well, then, goodbye. You needn't trouble yourself to write
to me, I'll hear about you from Hendricks; and I'd rather know what he
thinks about you than what you think about yourself."

"How little you know," thought Martin, as he entered the coach, "what I am
or what I think about myself. As if my purpose could be changed by words
of yours!" And he smiled a smile which would have done justice to Arthur
Raybold. The chill had gone out of him; he was warm again.

On the train he read the letter to Hendricks which Peter Sadler had given
to him unsealed. It was a long letter, and he read it twice. Then he sat
and gazed out of the window at the flying scenery for nearly half an hour,
after which he read the letter again. Then he folded it up and put it into
his pocket.

"If she had given me the slightest reason to