"Does he? Was there nothing else in the telegram except that I was to come here without a moment's delay?" "You were to bring the account-books." "I have them, you see. Was the old thief in a good humour?" "Jeremiah, I was listening outside his room, and I heard him limping up and down, muttering to himself. I didn't catch what he was saying, but he was in a desperate temper. Yet when he rang his bell, and I answered it, he was sitting at the writing-table, with the sweetest smile on his face, and his voice was like honey. 'Take this to the telegraph office,' he said, giving me the message; and he asked me how you were getting on, and whether you were saving money, and whether I had saved any. I told him I had a little--" "How much?" asked Jeremiah, interrupting her. "I didn't tell him that, Jeremiah." "Of course you didn't; but _I_ want to know." "I have got more than a hundred pounds, Jeremiah." "So--you've been saving up secretly, unbeknown to me!" "It was done for your good, Jeremiah; it is all for you. Women are not as strong as men, nor as bold and venturesome, but they see further sometimes. 'Perhaps,' I thought to myself, 'one day Jeremiah may want a little help; there may be something he wishes to do and is just a little short. Then I will give him my savings, and he will praise me for my prudence and foresight." "I praise you now, mother," said Jeremiah. "Can you lay your hands on the money? Is it in your room?" "No, Jeremiah; it is in the Post-office Savings-bank." "Curse it! You can't get it out to-day. What's the good of it when I want it now--this very minute?" "What for, Jeremiah?" "That's my business. Go on about the old thief. He pretended to be very sweet, did he, and tried to pump you? What's that?" He clutched his mother, shaking like one in an ague. They were in a narrow lane, and a boy in their rear had uttered a loud shout, and had thrown a stone at a bird. The boy ran on, and the colour returned to Jeremiah's face. "Jeremiah!" whispered Mrs. Pamflett. "Well?" "You have been doing something wrong. You are in trouble." "Yes, I am in trouble. I have been robbed--swindled--tricked and ruined by a damned scoundrel. If I had him here now, in this quiet lane, with no one near, his life wouldn't be worth a moment's purchase. There, the murder's out! What did I say?" "You said, 'the murder's out.'" "Did I?" he exclaimed, with a nervous laugh. "Murder, eh? Well, if it's my life against another man's--" "Is it as bad as that, Jeremiah?" "It is. I am in a fearful hole, and I must get out of it. Look here, mother. Ever since I was born you've been drumming in my ears that you cared for nothing in the world but me, that you lived only for me, that you loved no one but me, that you would do anything for me--never mind what--anything, anything! Is it true, or a lie?"