She railed away, uncontradicted; but there was a pleasant smile on Wallingford’s handsome face that seemed to increase rather than diminish at her flow of words, until at last she smiled in return, though half against her will. The poor fellow looked pale and tired: he was some gentleman in distress; she had seen his like before. "We must trouble you for supper and a fire," he said to the landlady. "I want some brandy at once for my comrade, and while you get supper we can take some sleep. We have been riding all day. There will be a gentleman to meet me here by and by out of Bristol," and he took advantage of her stepping aside a little to bow politely to her and make her precede him into the kitchen. There was a quiet authority in his behavior which could not but be admired; the good woman took notice that the face of her guest was white with fatigue, and even a little tremulous in spite of his calmness. "If he ’s a hunted man, I ’ll hide him safe," she now said to herself. It was not the habit of Old Passage Inn to ask curious questions of its guests, or why they sometimes came at evening, and kept watch for boats that ran in from mid-channel and took them off by night. This looked like a gentleman, indeed, who would be as likely to leave two gold pieces on the table as one. "I have supper to get for a couple o’ thieves (by t’ looks of ’em) that was here last night waiting for some one who did n’t come,—a noisy lot, too; to-night they ’ll get warning to go elsewhere," she said, in a loud tone. "I shall serve them first, and bid them begone. And I expect some gentlefolk, too. There ’s a fire lit for ’em now in my best room; it was damp there, and they’d ill mix with t’ rest. ’T is old Mr. Alderman Davis a-comin’ out o’ Bristol, one o’ their great merchants, and like to be their next lord mayor, so folks says. He ’s not been this way before these three years," she said, with importance. "Let me know when he comes!" cried Wallingford eagerly, as he stood by the fireplace. There was a flush of color in his cheeks now, and he turned to his companion, who had sunk into a corner of the settle. "Thank God, Hammet," he exclaimed, "we ’re safe! The end of all our troubles has come at last!" The innkeeper saw that he was much moved; something about him had quickly touched her sympathy. She could not have told why she shared his evident gratitude, or why the inn should be his place of refuge, but if he were waiting for Mr. Davis, there was no fault to find.