interested in the old house
being pulled down.'

'That's all right,' he said. 'I've been keeping an eye on the business
round the corner, and she ain't interested when I'M round this end.'

'You seem mighty interested in the business,' I said.

'Yes,' said Jack. 'This sort of thing just suits a man of my rank in
times of peace.'

'What made you think of the window?' I asked.

'Oh, that's as simple as striking matches. I'm up to all those dodges.
Why, where there wasn't a window, I've fixed up a piece of looking-glass
to see if a girl was taking any notice of me when she thought I wasn't
looking.'

He went away, and presently Mary was at the window again, and this
time she had a tray with cups of tea and a plate of cake and
bread-and-butter. I was prizing off the strips that held the sash,
very carefully, and my heart suddenly commenced to gallop, without any
reference to me. I'd never felt like that before, except once or
twice. It was just as if I'd swallowed some clockwork arrangement,
unconsciously, and it had started to go, without warning. I reckon it
was all on account of that blarsted Jack working me up. He had a
quiet way of working you up to a thing, that made you want to hit him
sometimes--after you'd made an ass of yourself.

I didn't hear Mary at first. I hoped Jack would come round and help me
out of the fix, but he didn't.

'Mr--Mr Wilson!' said Mary. She had a sweet voice.

I turned round.

'I thought you and Mr Barnes might like a cup of tea.'

'Oh, thank you!' I said, and I made a dive for the window, as if hurry
would help it. I trod on an old cask-hoop; it sprang up and dinted my
shin and I stumbled--and that didn't help matters much.

'Oh! did you hurt yourself, Mr Wilson?' cried Mary.

'Hurt myself! Oh no, not at all, thank you,' I blurted out. 'It takes
more than that to hurt me.'

I was about the reddest shy lanky fool of a Bushman that was ever taken
at a disadvantage on foot, and when I took the tray my hands shook so
that a lot of the tea was spilt into the saucers. I embarrassed her too,
like the damned fool I was, till she must have been as red as I was, and
it's a wonder we didn't spill the whole lot between us. I got away
from the window in as much of a hurry as if Jack had cut his leg with a
chisel and fainted, and I was running with whisky for him. I blundered
round to where he was, feeling like a man feels when he's just made an
ass of himself in public. The memory of