"Good evening, my lady," he said. "I suppose I ought to be humbly beholden to such a grand lady as you for coming here to meet the likes of me. But it seems rather strange you must needs come out here in secret to see such a very intimate acquaintance as I am, considering as you're the mistress of that great castle up yonder. I must say it seems uncommon hard a man can't pay a visit to his own--" "Hush!" cried Lady Eversleigh. "Do not call me by _that_ name, if you do not wish to inspire me with a deeper loathing than that which I already feel for you." "Well, I'm blest!" muttered Mr. Milsom; "that's uncommon civil language from a young woman to--" Honoria stopped him by a sudden gesture. "I suppose you expect to profit by this interview?" she said. "That I most decidedly do expect," answered the tramp. "In that case, you will carefully avoid all mention of the past, for otherwise you will get nothing from me." The man responded at first only with a sulky growl. Then, after a brief pause, he muttered-- "I don't want to talk about the past any more than you do, my fine, proud madam. If it isn't a pleasant time for you to remember, it isn't a pleasant time for me to remember. It's all very well for a young woman who has her victuals found for her to give herself airs about the manner other people find _their_ victuals; but a man must live somehow or other. If he can't get his living in a pleasant way, he must get it in an unpleasant way." After this there was a silence which lasted for some minutes. Lady Eversleigh was trying to control the agitation which oppressed her, despite the apparent calmness of her manner. Black Milsom walked by her side in sullen silence, waiting for her to speak. The spot was lonely. Lady Eversleigh and her companion were justified in believing themselves unobserved. But it was not so. Lonely as the spot was, those two were not alone. A stealthy, gliding, female figure, dark and shadowy in the uncertain light, had followed Lady Eversleigh from the castle gates, and that figure was beside her now, as she walked with Black Milsom upon the river bank. The spy crept by the side of the hedge that separated the river bank from the meadow; and sheltered thus, she was able to distinguish almost every word spoken by the two upon the bank, so clearly sounded their voices in the still night air. "How did you find me here?" asked Lady Eversleigh, at last.