“No, sir, but _now_. Since you’ve been so kind as to give me your company and the best of tobacco, I’d like just to finish off my bit of history like. I cannot tell what’s got at me this blessed day, but it drives me to speak, and to talk. Maybe it’s the place itself that edges me on! I ax yer pardon for making so free as to bother ye wid an old man’s chat.” “As for that,” responded Mr. Usher, “I’m an idle man at present. At home all my time means money, and I forget that here I have no occasion to hurry myself. The day is long, and besides--this is rather a curious coincidence, but I’ve heard part of your tale before. The name of Mulgrave is familiar, and I am interested in seeing the spot where the first Lady Mulgrave died. It is extraordinary that I should, in the course of a casual afternoon ramble, come upon it just by accident.” “Do ye think it was an accident, sir? I’d call it a queer chance. Anyhow, ’tis many a Sunday afternoon I put in here, and you’re one of the few visitors I’ve seen. If ye like, I’ll be setting ye on your road home, for I can walk and talk, and I would not be wishful to be a torment and a hindrance to yer honour; but when I’ve put the story off me mind, ye, being English and a gentleman, well up in years and experience, might give me your opinion and advice.” “It is my rule to charge for both,” rejoined Mr. Usher, with a grim smile. “That is how I make my living. I’m a lawyer.” “God help us!” ejaculated Mike under his breath, and then, in a louder key, “Meaning no offence, but ye don’t look like one. I’d take ye for a blooded gentleman!” “Thank you. And now perhaps you will take me out of this delightful wilderness, and put me on the road to Glenveigh. If you will tell me your story, you shall have my best advice gratis--that means, without a fee.” CHAPTER X Within the next five minutes the man in the frieze coat was pioneering the man in the grey tweed through the jungle of fuchsias and arbutus which smothered the steep footpath leading down to the lake. A broken gate lying on the ground marked the extreme limit of Lota. Presently the lawyer and labourer were striding by the water’s edge side by side, and Mike resumed the relation of his story, precisely as if the thread had never been snapped.