rouble that befell her, the birth of her child--had she
ever betrayed signs of loose character while living beneath his
roof?--'Never! Never!'

"How came she first to leave his house? Was any particular individual
instrumental in obtaining for her work which first took her from beneath
his roof?--'There! There!' Clenched fist and half his body over the box
towards Sabre.

"'Look here!' bursts out old Sabre. 'Look here--!'

"They shut him up.

"'Answer the question, please, Mr. Bright.'--'Mr. Sabre led to her first
going from me. Mr. Sabre!'

"Had this Mr. Sabre first approached him in the matter or had he
solicited Mr. Sabre's help?--'He came to me! He came to me! Without
rhyme, or reason, or cause, or need, or hint, or suggestion he came to
me!'

"Was the situation thus obtained for the girl nearer her father's house
or nearer Mr. Sabre's?--'Not a quarter of an hour, not ten minutes, from
Mr. Sabre's house.'

"Had the witness any knowledge as to whether this man Sabre was a
frequent visitor at the place of the girl's situation?--'Constantly,
constantly, night after night he was there!'

"'Was he, indeed?' says Humpo, mightily interested. 'Was he, indeed?
There were perhaps great friends of his own standing there, one or two
men chums, no doubt?'--'No one! No one!' cries the old man. 'No one but
an old invalid lady, nigh bedridden, past seventy, and my daughter, my
daughter, my Effie.'

"That was all very well, all very well, says Humpo. Mr. Bright's word
was of course accepted, but had the witness any outside proof of the
frequency of these visits to this bedridden old lady old enough to be
the man Sabre's grandmother? Had the witness recently been shown a
diary kept by Mr. Twyning at that period?--'Yes! Yes!'

"And it contained frequent reference to Sabre's mention in the office of
these visits?--'Yes! Yes!'

"Did one entry reveal the fact that on one occasion this Sabre spent an
entire night there?

"'Look here--' bursts out old Sabre. 'Look here--'

"Can't get any farther. Buddha on the throne shuts him up if he could
have got any farther. 'Yes,' groans old Bright out of his heaving chest.
'Yes. A night there.'

"And on the very next day, the very next day, did this man Sabre rush
off and enlist?--'Yes. Yes.'

"Viewed in light of the subsequent events, did that sudden burst of
patriotism bear any particular interpretation?--'Running away from it,'
heaves the old man. 'Running away from it.'

"