“Yes,” she answered; “Morrison. I am certain we may trust him.” “Where is he to be found?” asked her friend. “I do not know his address, though I could find my way to his house. I will go and fetch him this moment.” “I will accompany you,” he said; but next moment, remembering some one in the Dudley interest ought to remain on the premises, he stood perplexed and silent, while Heather said,— “I am not afraid of going. Do you think, after to-night, any small thing will ever frighten me again?” “Poor child, poor child,” he murmured, “what a life yours has been!” “Don’t pity me,” she said; “do not, or my heart will break; it feels almost breaking as it is, and a kind word chokes me. I will go for Morrison; I will go at once.” There was no help for it; so he went with her as far as the gate and watched her while she flitted away along the street—watched her till she turned a corner and was lost to view. Then he went upstairs again to hear how the patient was doing, and after a chat with the doctor and nurse, for whom the doctor had sent, walked down to the gates again, and waited till Heather entered, bringing Morrison with her. “A nice business this!” remarked Mr. Croft, when Mrs. Dudley had left the two men standing together in the yard; “a nice business it might have turned out. Where could your eyes have been not to see Mr. Dudley was as mad as a March hare when you left off work? If it had not been for Mrs. Dudley, there would have been a fine bonfire here to-night.” “Well, sir, my mind did misgive me,” was the reply; “and more especially along of these here shavings. I told Mr. Dudley they were not safe stowed away in that there carpenter’s shop, with the gas escaping like anything. I wanted to have them cleared out, and offered to wait and see it properly done, but he said he wanted to go out and could not have them moved till Monday. He looked real down wild when he said it, and my mind misgave me; but I never thought of him trying such a start as this.” “Mr. Lukin will be here on Monday, and you can tell him all about it, just as it happened,” said Mr. Croft; “but don’t let the men get hold of his having tried to fire the place. It would not be pleasant for poor Mrs. Dudley.” “Which a real lady is,” finished Morrison; “many a time I was sorry to see her here, so unsuitable it seemed. Never fear, sir, nobody shall hear the story from me, not even Mr. Lukin. I need not tell him Mrs. Dudley came for me; and when we get these things out of the way, and the place to rights a bit, no one need be any the wiser.” “And, as I cannot find any of the keys, I will take the books in for security, if you will hand them to me,” said Mr. Croft. And so he had the books carried across the yard and placed on the dining-room table, where in five minutes he discovered the deficiency.