e, or whatever you call him, wants me, he
knows my town address."

"You defy me?" panted Chaldea, her breast rising and falling quickly.

"Yes; truth must prevail in the end. I make no bargain with a spy," and
he gave her a contemptuous look, as he strode into the cottage and shut
the door with an emphatic bang.

"Hai!" muttered the gypsy between her teeth. "Hatch till the dood wells
apre," which means: "Wait until the moon rises!" an ominous saying for
Lambert.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SECRETARY.

"Was ever a man in so uncomfortable a position?"

Lambert asked himself this question as soon as he was safe in his
studio, and he found it a difficult one to answer. It was true that what
he had said to Agnes, and what Agnes had said to him, was perfectly
honest and extremely honorable, considering the state of their feelings.
But the conversation had been overheard by an unscrupulous woman, whose
jealousy would probably twist innocence into guilt. It was certain that
she would go to Pine and give him a garbled version of what had taken
place, in which case the danger was great, both to himself and to Agnes.
Lambert had spoken bravely enough to the marplot, knowing that he had
done no wrong, but now he was by no means sure that he had acted
rightly. Perhaps it would have been better to temporize but that would
have meant a surrender young to Chaldea's unmaidenly wooing. And, as the
man had not a spark of love for her in a heart given entirely to another
woman, he was unwilling even to feign playing the part of a lover.

On reflection he still held to his resolution to go to London, thinking
that it would be best for him to be out of reach of Agnes while Pine was
in the neighborhood. The news that the millionaire was a gypsy had
astonished him at first; but now that he considered the man's dark
coloring and un-English looks, he quite believed that what Chaldea said
was true. And he could understand also that Pine--or Hearne, since that
was his true name--would occasionally wish to breathe the free air of
heath and road since he had been cradled under a tent, and must at times
feel strongly the longing for the old lawless life. But why should he
revert to his beginnings so near to his brother-in-law's house, where
his wife was staying? "Unless he came to keep an eye on her," murmured
Lambert, and unconsciously hit on the very reason of the pseudo-gypsy's
presence at Garvington.

After all, it would be best to go t