‘You take yourself off,’ she said, desperately, pushing him with her fist.  ‘That money’s no business o’ yourn.  It’s John’s, an he’s comin back directly.  He gave it us to look after, an I wor countin it.  March! —­there’s your father comin!’

And with all her force she endeavoured to wrench his hand away.  He tore it from her, and hit out at her backwards—­a blow that sent her reeling against the wall.

‘Yo take yer meddlin fist out o’ that!’ he said.  ’Father ain’t comin, and if he wor, I ’spect I could manage the two on yer—­Keowntin it’—­ he mimicked her.  ’Oh! yer a precious innercent, ain’t yer?  But I know all about yer.  Bless yer, I’ve been in at the “Spotted Deer” to-night, and there worn’t nothin else talked of but yo and yor goins-on.  There won’t be a tongue in the place to-morrow that won’t be a-waggin about yer—­yur a public charickter, yo are—­they’ll be sendin the reporters down on yer for a hinterview.  “Where the Devil do she get the money?” they says.’

He threw his curly head back and laughed till his sides shook.

’Lor, I didn’t think I wor goin to know quite so soon!  An sich queer ’arf-crowns, they ses, as she keeps a-changin.  Jarge somethin—­an old cove in a wig.  An ’ere they is, I’ll be blowed—­some on ’em.  Well, yer a nice un, yer are!’

He stared her up and down with a kind of admiration.

Bessie began to cry feebly—­the crying of a lost soul.

‘Tim, if yer’ll go away an hold yer tongue, I’ll give yer five o’ them suverins, and not tell yer father nothin.’

’Five on ’em?’ he said, grinning.  ’Five on ’em, eh?’

And dipping his hands into the box he began deliberately shovelling the whole hoard into his trousers and waistcoat pocket.

Bessie flung herself upon him.  He gave her one businesslike blow which knocked her down against the bedroom door.  The door yielded to her fall, and she lay there half-stunned, the blood dripping from her temple.

’Noa, I’ll not take ’em all,’ he said, not even troubling to look where she had fallen.  ’That ’ud be playin it rayther too low down on old John.  I’ll leave ‘im two—­jest two—­for luck.’

He buttoned up his coat tightly, then turned to throw a last glance at Bessie.  He had always disliked his father’s second wife, and his sense of triumph was boundless.

‘Oh! yer not hurt,’ he said; ’yer shammin.  I advise yer to look sharp with shuttin up.  Father’ll be up the hill in two or three minutes now.  Sorry I can’t ‘elp yer, now yer’ve set me up so comfortabul.  Bye-bye!’

He ran down the stairs.  She, as her senses revived, heard him open the back door, cross the little garden, and jump the hedge at the end of it.

Then she lay absolutely motionless, till suddenly there struck on her ear the distant sound of heavy steps.  They roused her like a goad.  She dragged herself to her feet, shut the box, had just time to throw it into the cupboard and lock the door, when she heard her husband walk into the kitchen.  She crept into her own room, threw herself on the bed, and wrapped her head and eyes in an old shawl, shivering so that the mattresses shook.