"Pah!" he ejaculated; but returned to his chair, pulled the loaf in half, and then cut off two thick slices, hacked the meat from the bones of two hot steaming chops and took a pat of the butter to lay upon one of the slices of bread. This done, his eye wandered round the room for a moment or two, and he rose and hastily caught up a newspaper, rolled the bread and meat therein, and placed the packet on a shelf before pouring out a portion of the tea through the window and then giving the slop-basin and cup the appearance of having been used. This done, he sat back in his chair to think, and remained so for quite half-an-hour, when Mrs Pinet came with an announcement for which he was quite prepared. "A strange man, sir," said the landlady, looking troubled and smoothing down her apron, "a strange young man, sir. I'm afraid, sir--" "Afraid, Mrs Pinet?" "I mean, sir, I'm afraid he's a tramp, sir; but he said you told him to come." "I'm afraid, too, that he is a tramp, Mrs Pinet, poor fellow! But it's quite right, I did tell him to come. You can show him in." "In--in here, sir?" "Yes, Mrs Pinet. He has been unfortunate, poor fellow! and has come to ask for help." Mrs Pinet sighed, mentally declared that Mr Hallam was a true gentleman, and introduced shabby, broken-down and dejected Stephen Crellock. Hallam did not move nor raise his eyes, while the visitor gave a quick, furtive look round at all in the room, and Mrs Pinet's departing footsteps sounded quite loud. Then a door was heard to close, and Hallam turned fiercely upon his visitor. "Now, you scoundrel--you miserable gaol-bird, what do you mean by coming to me?" "Mean by coming? I mean you to do things right. If you'd had your dues you'd have been where I was; only you played monkey and made me cat." "What?" "And I had my paws burned while you got the chestnuts." "You scoundrel!" cried Hallam, rushing to the fireplace and ringing sharply, "I'll have the constable and put a stop to this." "No, no, no, don't, don't, Rob. I'll do anything you like; I won't say anything," gasped the visitor piteously, "only: don't send for the constable." "Indeed but I will," cried Hallam fiercely, as he walked to the door: but his visitor made quite a leap, fell at his feet, and clung to his legs. "No, no, don't, don't," he cried hoarsely, and Hallam shook him off, opened the door, and called out: "Never mind, now; I'll ring in a few minutes." He closed the door and stood scowling at his visitor. "I did not think you'd be so hard on a poor fellow when he was down, Hallam," he whimpered, "I didn't, 'pon my honour." "Your honour, you dog, you gaol-bird," cried Hallam in a low, angry voice. "How dare you come down and insult me!" "I--thought you'd help me, that you'd lend your old friend a hand now you're so well off, while I am in a state like this."