"I'm no so certain that I ought to tell ye. And yet, seeing that there's a leddy in the case, it's perhaps only right that you should know." "A lady in the case! You must tell me now, or I shall die of curiosity." "I suppose I must tell ye, or else you'll no be satisfied," he said. "But let us sit down while we talk. Sitting's as cheap as standing, and I'm no so young as I have been, Mr. Pummery. It was that bit imp of a lawyer laddie," resumed Sanderson, as soon as he and Gerald were comfortably seated, "young Brazen-face, I call him, from Mr. Kelvin's. He was here t'other day, here in this very spot, and Miss Lloyd happened to come in quite accidental at the time. I'd been hard at work all the morning, and was just resting a bit behind the bushes, when all at once I heard young Brazen-face mention your name, and that made me listen to hear more." "And what had the young vagabond to say about me, Sanderson?" "Why, he said that you were as poor as a church mouse, and that his master lent you fifty pounds to buy your clothes with." "There's nothing very bad in that." "But he said the reason why you came to Stammers was that you might fall in love with Miss Lloyd and marry her, because she was worth twenty thousand pounds." "The young scoundrel! And he told that to Miss Lloyd?" "That's just what he did! And he said that Miss Deane knew all about it, and that it was all a planned thing between you and her." Gerald was dumbfounded. He could not find a word to say for a little while. What must Eleanor think of him! It would not be a very difficult matter to set himself right with her if he chose to do so, but a climax was being forced upon him which he would gladly have delayed for a little while longer. "But what was Miss Lloyd's answer to all this?" he said at last. "She didn't seem to say much; but she may have thought all the more," answered Sanderson. "It was enough to make her think. I am really very much obliged to you for telling me." "I dare say you wouldn't care to have it talked about, Mr. Pummery?" "Well, no, Sanderson, I think not. Even if this foolish accusation were true, it would be as well, for Miss Lloyd's sake, not to let it go any further. There's a sovereign for you to buy snuff with. A still tongue, you know, is a sign of a wise head." "How did that young scamp get to know all that he told Eleanor?" was Gerald's first thought as he walked slowly back into the house. But that was a question which it was impossible for him to answer. How different was the spirit with which he entered the house from that which had possessed him when he left it but one short hour before! The summer sunshine of his love had suddenly been clouded over: the landscape had darkened: a storm was at hand.