Poor Miss Finch

ht View o

Zillah lit the candles and drew the curtains. The silence w

redth time. "And why should your looking at him

competent knowledge of the English language, by this time. But my experience fails a little on the side of phrases consecrated to the use of the law. I inquired into the meaning of "Assizes," and was informed that it signif

hit him off (as the English saying is) to a T. "Mercy preser

Lucilla. She was leaning back in her chair, with a smile of quiet contempt on her pretty face. "Madame

om Heaven, I suppose? The time when he came here, must be known. Also, whether he came alone, or not. Also, how and where he has found a lodging in the village. Before I

interested in the purely practical view of th

a week," she ans

as I came, o

es

guide, o

enly sat up

e said. "His twin brot

other in the story was a complication in itself. Tw

nd their way her

dy kn

y go to, when

r twins. They arrived early in the day, when the tap-room was empty; and they had a long talk together in private. At the end of it, they rang for the landlord, and asked if he had a bed-room to let in the house. You

e of the ot

was most affecting. The brother who spoke to us to-night insisted on it

room at the moment. "I have made all the doors and windows

hat was worse than

with a look of profound disgust.

r," I said. "Did they g

yed behind for his name," replied L

ulties would give among us. Was he a criminal countryman of mine? No! There had been nothing foreign in his accent when he spoke. Pure English - there could be no doubt of that. And yet he had

is undetected ruffian deserted in t

nurse, "he is settled in the nei

Somebody," I said hazarding another guess

the reference said to him, word for word. Isn't it provoking? The house was let for six months certain, the next day. It is wretchedly furnished. Mr. Dubourg has had several things that he wanted sent from Brighton. Besides the furniture, a packing-case from London arrived at the house to-day. It was so strongly nailed up that the carpenter had to be sent for to open it. He reports that the case was full of thin plates of gold and silver; and it was accompanied by a box of extraordinary tools, the use of which was a mystery to the

my dear," I said, "to make a mys

ated Lucilla,

onclusion. My guess is the right one. The man is an escaped criminal; and his form of crime is coining false money. He has been discovered at Exeter - he has esc

ld see that she gave me up, in the matter of Mr. Du

!" she exclaimed. "We do some very eccentric things in England, occasionally - but there is a lim

of her romance. She resented - seriously resented - a

and a coiner is a robber of another sort. Whether the capitalist recommends the coiner, or the coiner the capitalist, is all one to me. In either case (to quote the language of an excellent English play) the honest people are the soft easy cushions on which these knaves repose and fatten. It was on the tip of my tongue to put this large and liberal view of the subject to Lucilla. But (alas!)

eft the piano unopened.

ic which could possess itself of her attention that night. I took her place, and began to play again. She suddenly snatched my hands off the keys. "Is Zillah here?" she whispered. I told her Zillah had left the room. She laid her charming head on my shoulder, and sighed hysterically. "I can't help thinking of him," she burst out. "I am miserable for the first time in my life - no! I am happy for the first time in my life. Oh, what must you think of me! I don't know what

an lay clearly before me - m

tigue," I said. "To-morrow you shall be my young lady again. To-

in her pretty night-dress, on her knees at the bed-side

te affairs, on meeting you in a railway carriage, or sitting next to you at a table-d'h?te. For myself, I believe I shall go on running up sudden friendships with strangers to my dying day. Infamous Dubourg! If I could have got into Browndown that night, I should have liked to have done to him what a Mexican maid of mine (at the Central American period of my

in my bedroom, to consider - if the matter of Dubourg

urselves. You will best understand what course my reflections took, if I here relate the chief particulars