"Ah, you think I don't want to work!" he said--"There you're wrong! But I haven't many years of life in me,--there's not much time left to do what I have to do,--and I must get on." "Get on, where?" "To Cornwall." "Whereabouts in Cornwall?" "Down by Penzance way." "You want to start off on the tramp again at once?" "Yes." "All right, you must do as you like, I suppose,"--and Miss Tranter sniffed whole volumes of meaning in one sniff--"But Farmer Joltram told me to say that if you wanted a light job up on his place,--that's about a mile from here,--- he wouldn't mind giving you a chance. You'd get good victuals there, for he feeds his men well. And I don't mind trusting you with a bit of gardening--you could make a shilling a day easy--so don't say you can't get work. That's the usual whine--but if you say it----" "I shall be a liar!" said Helmsley, his sunken eyes lighting up with a twinkle of merriment--"And don't you fear, Miss Tranter,--I _won't_ say it! I'm grateful to Mr. Joltram--but I've only one object left to me in life, and that is--to get on, and find the person I'm looking for--if I can!" "Oh, you're looking for a person, are you?" queried Miss Tranter, more amicably--"Some long-lost relative?" "No,--not a relative, only--a friend." "I see!" Miss Tranter smoothed down her neatly fitting plain cotton gown with both hands reflectively--"And you'll be all right if you find this friend?" "I shall never want anything any more," he answered, with an unconsciously pathetic tremor in his voice--"My dearest wish will be granted, and I shall be quite content to die!" "Well, content or no content, you've got to do it," commented Miss Tranter--"And so have I--and so have all of us. Which I think is a pity. I shouldn't mind living for ever and ever in this world. It's a very comfortable world, though some folks say it isn't. That's mostly liver with them though. People who don't over-eat or over-drink themselves, and who get plenty of fresh air, are generally fairly pleased with the world as they find it. I suppose the friend you're looking for will be glad to see you?" "The friend I'm looking for will certainly be glad to see me," said Helmsley, gently--"Glad to see me--glad to help me--glad above all things to love me! If this were not so, I should not trouble to search for my friend at all." Miss Tranter fixed her eyes full upon him while he thus spoke. They were sharp eyes, and just now they were visibly inquisitive. "You've not been very long used to tramping," she observed. "No." "I expect you've seen better days?" "Some few, perhaps,"--and he smiled gravely--"But it comes harder to a man who has once known comfort to find himself comfortless in his old age." "That's very true! Well!"--and Miss Tranter gave a short sigh--"I'm sorry you won't stay on here a bit to pick up your strength--but a wilful man must have his way! I hope you'll find your friend!"