“I’d a knack o’ dressin’,” pursued the egregious Mrs. Transom, “an’ nice eyes an’ hair.  ‘Why, Maria, darlin’,’ said William one day, when him an’ me was keepin’ company, ‘I believe you could sit on that hair o’ yours, I do reely.’  ‘Go along, you silly!’ I said, ‘to be sure I can.’”

“He called you darling?”

“Why, in course.  H’ain’t you never had a young man?”

’Lizabeth brushed aside the question by another.

“Do you love him?  I mean so that—­that you could lie down and let him tramp the life out o’ you?”

“Good Lord, girl, what questions you do ask!  Why, so-so, o’ course, like other married women.  He’s wild at times, but I shut my eyes; an’ he hav’n struck me this year past.  I wonder what he can be doin’ all this time.”

“Come and see.”

’Lizabeth rose.  Her contempt of this foolish, faded creature recoiled upon herself, until she could bear to sit still no longer.  With William’s wife at her heels, she mounted the stair, their shoeless feet making no sound.  The door of the old man’s bed-room stood ajar, and a faint ray of light stole out upon the landing.  ’Lizabeth looked into the room, and then, with a quick impulse, darted in front of her companion.

It was too late.  Mrs. Transom was already at her shoulder, and the eyes of the two women rested on the sorry spectacle before them.

Candle in hand, the prodigal was kneeling by the dead man’s bed.  He was not praying, however; but had his head well buried in the oaken chest, among the papers of which he was cautiously prying.

The faint squeal that broke from his wife’s lips sufficed to startle him.  He dropped the lid with a crash, turned sharply round, and scrambled to his feet.  His look embraced the two women in one brief flicker, and then rested on the blazing eyes of ’Lizabeth.

“You mean hound!” said she, very slowly.

He winced uneasily, and began to bluster: 

“Curse you!  What do you mean by sneaking upon a man like this?”

“A man!” echoed ’Lizabeth.  “Man, then, if you will—­couldn’t you wait till your father was cold, but must needs be groping under his pillow for the key of that chest?  You woman, there—­you wife of this man—­I’m main grieved you should ha’ seen this.  Lord knows I had the will to hide it!”

The wife, who had sunk into the nearest chair, and lay there huddled like a half-empty bag, answered with a whimper.

“Stop that whining!” roared William, turning upon her, “or I’ll break every bone in your skin.”

“Fie on you, man!  Why, she tells me you haven’t struck her for a whole year,” put in ’Lizabeth, immeasurably scornful.

“So, cousin, you’ve found out what I meant by ‘we.’  Lord! you fancied you was the one as was goin’ to settle down wi’ me an’ be comfortable, eh?  You’re jilted, my girl, an’ this is how you vent your jealousy.  You played your hand well; you’ve turned us out.  It’s a pity—­eh?—­you didn’t score this last trick.”