"Oh, damme, my leg," he said, softly. "Where--where are they all gone? Why it's--it's past dinnertime," he said, looking at his watch by the dim light. "I shall be doosed glad when everybody's married and--and-- and--why the doose doesn't the dressing-bell ring? Heigh--oh--ha--hum!" he added, yawning. "There's--there's--there's another of those abominable organs. I--I--I wish that all the set of them were at the bottom of the sea, for I lie at night with all their tunes coming back again, and seeming to grind themselves to fit the pains in my leg. Poor girl! she was always encouraging the fellows. Why dear me! Damme, haven't I got a single sixpence left to give him, to go away. No, that I haven't," he continued fumbling, "not a sou. She--she--she does keep me short," he muttered, opening the French window and looking out. "Oh, he's done playing now, so I shan't want the money. Why eh--eh--eh? Why--he--he, he! the fellow's talking to one of the maids. He--he--he! Hi--hi--hi! They will do it. I--I--I was a devil of a fellow amongst the girls when I was a young man; but now--oh, dear, oh dear! this wind seems to give me tortures, that it does." He closed the window, but stood looking out. "You'd better take care, you two, that my lady don't catch you, or there'll be such a devil of a row. He's--he's going down into the area. Well, well, well, I shan't tell tales. He--he--he! Hi--hi--hi!" he chuckled, sitting down and nursing his leg. "I remember when I was about twenty, and Dick Jerrard and I--he's Lord Marrowby now, and a sober judge!--when we got over the wall at a boarding-school to see pretty Miss Vulliamy. Oh, dear, dear, dear, those were days. They preach and talk a deal now about being wicked, but it was very nice. I used to be a devil of a wicked fellow when I was young, and--and flirted terribly, while lately I've been as good as gold, and, damme, I haven't been half so happy." He stopped rubbing his leg for a while. "Everything's at sixes and sevens, damme, that it is. I'm nearly famished, that I am. If it hadn't been for that bit of chicken I should have been quite starved. Her ladyship's too bad, that she is. Cold boiled sole, rice pudding, and half a glass of hock in a tumbler of water. I can't stand it, that I can't. Damme, I'll make a good dinner to-night, that I will, if I die for it. I'll--I'll--I'll, damme, I'll kick over the traces for once in a way. Tom will help me, I know. He's a good boy, Tom is, and he'll see that I have a glass of port, and-- damme, where's Maude and her ladyship, and why isn't dinner ready? and-- eh--what?--what the devil's that. There's something wrong." For at that moment a piercing shriek rang through the house, and there was the sound of a heavy fall upon the floor. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. TOM DIPHOOS STAYS OUT LATE.