"I don't know about that," said William. "You gave that brute Bill Evans the plate to pawn, so far as I know." "There isn't much more to tell. He said the horse was sure to win. He was at thirty to one at that time. A thousand to thirty. Bill said with that money we could buy a public-house in the country. He wanted to settle down, he wanted to get out of--I don't want to say nothing against him. He said if I would only give him this chance of leading a respectable life, we was to be married immediately after." "He told you all that, did he? He said he'd give you a 'ome of your own, I know. A regular rotter; that man is about as bad as they make 'em. And you believed it all?" "It wasn't so much what I believed as what I couldn't help myself. He had got that influence over me that my will wasn't my own. I don't know how it is--I suppose men have stronger natures than women. I 'ardly knew what I was doing; it was like sleep-walking. He looked at me and said, 'You'd better do it.' I did it, and I suppose I'll have to go to prison for it. What I says is just the truth, but no one believes tales like that. How long do you think they'll give me?" "I hope we shall be able to get you out of this scrape. You got thirty pounds on the plate. Esther has told you that I'm ready to lend you the money to get it out." "Will you do this? You're good friends indeed.... But I shall never be able to pay you back such a lot of money." "We won't say nothing about paying back; all we want you to do is to say that you'll never see that fellow again." A change of expression came over Sarah's face, and William said, "You're surely not still hankering after him?" "No, indeed I'm not. But whenever I meets him he somehow gets his way with me. It's terrible to love a man as I love him. I know he don't really care for me--I know he is all you say, and yet I can't help myself. It is better to be honest with you." William looked puzzled. At the end of a long silence he said, "If it's like that I don't see that we can do anything." "Have patience, William. Sarah don't know what she's saying. She'll promise not to see him again." "You're very kind to me. I know I'm very foolish. I promised before not to see him, and I couldn't keep my promise." "You can stop with us until you get a situation in the country," said Esther, "where you'll be out of his way." "I might do that." "I don't like to part with my money," said William, "if it is to do no one any good." Esther looked at him, and he added, "It is just as Esther wishes, of course; I'm not giving you the money, it is she." "It is both of us," said Esther; "you'll do what I said, Sarah?" "Oh, yes, anything you say, Esther," and she flung herself into her friend's arms and wept bitterly. "Now we want to know where you pawned the plate," said William.