unendurable.  On the morrow of every such crime—­interpret the word rightly—­he hated himself for his cruelty to that pale sufferer whose reproaches were only the utterances of love.  The third year saw an improvement, whether owing to conscious self-control or to the fact that time was blunting his affliction.  Instead of the public-house, he frequented all places where the woes of the nether world found fierce expression.  He became a constant speaker at the meetings on Clerkenwell Green and at the Radical clubs.  The effect upon him of this excitement was evil enough, yet not so evil as the malady of drink.  Mrs. Hewett was thankful for the alternative.  But when she was no longer at his side—­what then?

His employment was irregular, but for the most part at cabinet-making.  The workshop where he was generally to be found was owned by two brothers, who invariably spent the first half of each week in steady drinking.  Their money gone, they set to work and made articles of furniture, which on Saturday they took round to the shops of small dealers and sold for what they could get.  When once they took up their tools, these men worked with incredible persistency, and they expected the same exertion from those they employed.  ’I wouldn’t give a ——­ for the chap as can’t do his six-and-thirty hours at the bench!’ remarked one of them on the occasion of a workman falling into a fainting-fit, caused by utter exhaustion.  Hewett was anything but strong, and he earned little.

Late on Saturday afternoon, Sidney Kirkwood and his friends were back in London.  As he drew near to Tysoe Street, carrying the bag which was all the luggage he had needed, Sidney by chance encountered Joseph Snowdon, who, after inquiring about his relatives, said that he had just come from visiting the Hewetts.  Mrs. Hewett was very ill indeed; and it was scarcely to be expected she would live more than a few days.

‘You mean that?’ exclaimed Kirkwood, upon whom, after his week of holiday and of mental experiences which seemed to have changed the face of the world for him, this sudden announcement came with a painful shock, reviving all the miserable past.  ‘She is dying?’

‘There’s no doubt of it.’

And Joseph added his belief that John Hewett would certainly not take it ill if the other went there before it was too late.

Sidney had no appetite now for the meal he would have purchased on reaching home.  A profound pity for the poor woman who had given him so many proofs of her affection made his heart heavy almost to tears.  The perplexities of the present vanished in a revival of old tenderness, of bygone sympathies and sorrows.  He could not doubt but that it was his duty to go to his former friends at a time such as this.  Perhaps, if he had overcome his pride, he might have sooner brought the estrangement to an end.

He did not know, and had forgotten to ask of Snowdon, the number of the house in King’s Cross Road where the Hewetts lived.  He could find it, however, by visiting Pennyloaf.  Conquering his hesitation, he was on the point of going forth, when his landlady came up and told him that a young girl wished to see him.  It was Amy Hewett, and her face told him on what errand she had come.