s, called me 'is bye
Jarge, said 'e were proud of me, 'e did! A man can begin again an'
live straight an' square wi' a memory the like o' that to 'elp 'im."

"Then why not begin to-night?"

He passed a tremulous hand through his silver hair, and stared at me
with incredulous eyes.

"Begin-to-night!" he half whispered.

"I have an old house among the Kentish hop-gardens," I went on; "no one
lives there at present except a care-taker, but it is within the bounds
of probability that I may go to stay there--some day. Now the gardens
need trimming, and I'm very fond of flowers; do you suppose you could
make the place look decent in--say, a month?"

"Sir," he said in a strange, broken voice, "you ain't jokin' with me,
are you?"

"I could pay you a pound a week; what do you say?"

He tried to speak, but his lips quivered, and he turned his back upon
us very suddenly. I tore a page from my pocket-book and scrawled a
hasty note to my care-taker.

"Here is the address," I said, tapping him on the shoulder. "You will
find no difficulty. I will write again to-night. You must of course
have money to get there and may need to buy a few necessaries besides;
here is your first week's wages in advance," and I thrust a sovereign
into his hand. He stared down at it with blinking eyes, shuffling
awkwardly with his feet, and at that moment his face seemed very worn,
and lined, and his hair very grey, yet I had a feeling that I should
not regret my quixotic action in the end.

"Sir," he faltered, "sir, do ye mean--?" and stopped.

"I mean that to-night 'the bye Jarge' has a chance to make a new
beginning, a chance to become the man his father always thought he
would be. Of course I may be a fool to trust you. That only time will
show; but you see I had a great respect for old Jasper. And now that
you have the address you'd better go; stay, though, you must have a
hat; folks might wonder--take this," and I handed him my cap.

"Sir, I can't thank ye now, I never can. It--it won't come; but--" with
a nervous, awkward gesture he caught my hand suddenly pressed it to his
lips, and was gone down the lane.

Thus it was that old Jasper's "bye Jarge" went out to make a trial of
life a second time, and as I watched him striding through the
moonlight, his head erect, very different to the shambling creature he
had been, it seemed to me that the felon was already ousted by the man.

"I 'specks he forgot all 'bout me!" said the Imp