Without stopping to bear Heckett’s reply, Marston turned away from him, crossed the road, and turned down a side street. He was anxious to cut the conversation short, for it annoyed him. Heckett’s half-veiled threat had seriously alarmed him. He had so much need now to bury the past, and he didn’t at all relish the idea of Josh Heckett pursuing him into the happy future which he hoped and believed awaited him. CHAPTER XLVII. MR. JABEZ MAKES A DISCOVERY. Her master having once again departed on his travels, Mrs. Turvey had plenty of leisure to attend to her own business, and the most important business she had on hand was Jabez. If the elderly clerk of Messrs. Grigg and Limpet had some reason to complain of Mr. Gurth Egerton coming home in the unexpected manner which has been fully related in the earlier chapters of this veracious narrative, he had also cause to complain of his equally abrupt departure, for it left him completely at the housekeeper’s mercy. She gave him no peace. She pursued him, to use one of his own poetic images, like the hunter pursues the deer; and really, in the way Jabez endeavoured to evade the Nimrod in petticoats, he was uncommonly like that timid quadruped. If he saw her at the top of the street he dodged round a corner and ran. If she called at the office, he hid and sent word he was out. Perhaps this latter practice is hardly in keeping with the habits of the deer, and therefore the simile breaks down. Jabez broke down at last. He gave in, as a weak-minded man always does if he is only resolutely hunted by a plucky sportswoman. He found it better to hark back to his old tactics and dissemble; and thus it came about that during Mr. Egerton’s absence he was a frequent patron of Mr. Egerton’s tea and Mr. Egerton’s toast. Now, upon several occasions there was a third party to these little festive gatherings, and Jabez was by no means sorry for it, though when he was introduced to the party aforesaid, and found him a railway guard and brother to his lady-love, he had a strong opinion that his presence was part of a deep-laid plot. ‘He’s to be a witness, ’thought Jabez to himself. ‘Susan’s to draw me out, and he is to hear what I say. Jabez, my boy, be on your guard—your railway guard.’ Jabez giggled at his own little joke, and he would doubtless have shone, but Mrs. Turvey had taken the shine out of him. His friends had long remarked the disappearance of his shininess. They declared him to have become remarkably dull. One evening, when Jabez arrived by appointment, he found Mr. and Mrs. Turvey in earnest conversation. After tea Mrs. Turvey asked him, with a pleasant smile, if he would do her a favour. She particularly wanted to go out with her brother for half an lour, and she did not wish to leave the house empty. The servant had gone out for her monthly holiday. Would Jabez kindly remain and smoke his pipe and make himself comfortable by the fire until Mrs. Turvey returned?