friendly voice, took him by the arm and led him
to a chair.

"Sit down there, my boy," he said, " and
don't be afraid. You must have come here of
your own free will, and we do not doubt you
have come for a good purpose. You have
something important to tell Mr. Felton. You
know Mr. Dallas, I think, and I gather from
what you said just now that you know what he
is accused of. Jim assented by a downcast
nod. " There, tell us all about it. Take your
time, and don't get frightened." So saying,
and giving the boy a reassuring pat upon the
shoulder, the lawyer sat down upon a chair
opposite to Jim, and spread his hands upon
his knees in an attitude of serious, but not
stern, attention. The two women looked on in
silent suspense, and Mr. Felton, guided by a
glance from Mr. Lowther, moved a little to the
back of the chair on which Jim was seated.

"Come," said Mr. Lowther, giving him
another pat, " we are all anxious to hear what
you have got to say. Speak up, my boy."

"Sir," began Jim, " I should like to ask you
something first. Is it true, as the gentleman as
was murdered was Mr. Dallas's own cousin?"

"Only too true. He was Mr. Felton's son,"
and the lawyer eyed the unhappy father, as if
measuring the strength he could command to
bear this new trial. Mr. Felton came to Jim's
side, and touched him kindly on the arm.

"Don't be afraid to speak before me," he
said. " You may; and don't keep us waiting
any longer, my good boy."

Then Jim made a desperate effort, and told
his story; told it in his ignorant blundering
fashion, told it with circumlocution and hesitation,
but never interrupted. Mr. Lowther
heard him without a word, and held Mr. Felton
and the two women silent by the unspoken
counsel of his glance.

"I had done many an odd job at the house
in South Molton-street," said the boy, when he
had told them a good deal about himself, in a
rambling way, "and I knowed Mr. Routh
well, but I don't suppose he knowed me; and
when I saw him a-lingerin' about the tavern,
and a-lookin' in at the winder, he wosn't no
stranger to me. Well, he giv' me the letter,
and I giv' it to the gentleman. He had a beard
as came down in a point, and was sharp with
me, but not so sharp as the waiter, as I giv' him
his own sauce, and the gentleman laughed, and
seemed as if he didn't object to me holdin' of
my own; but Mr. Dallas, which I didn't know
his name then, he didn't laugh, and he asks the
gentleman if there weren't no answer, and the
gentleman says no, there weren't none, and
somehow I seemed to know as he wanted to
spite Mr. Routh. So I felt cur'ous about it,
partickler when I see as Mr. Routh looked
savage when I came out of the coffee-room and
told him there weren't no answer. You must
understand," said Jim, who had regained his
composure now, and was in the full tide of his
discourse, which he addressed exclusively to Mr.
Lowther, with the instinctive delicacy which
Harriet Routh had once observed in the
neglected boy, " as I was not to say he was there,
I were merely to give the note. He giv' me
sixpence, and he went away down the Strand.
I got a horse-holdin' job just then, and it were
a long 'un; and there I was when the two gents
came to the door, a-smokin' their cigars, and
then the gent as I held his horse took him from
me, and I hadn't nothin' better to do than
follow them, which I did; for who should I see
but Mr. Routh a-skulkin' along the other side
of the Strand, as if he wanted to keep 'em in
sight without their seein' of him. I follered
them, sir, and follered them feelin' as if I was one
of them 'ere wild Ingins in the 'Alfpenny 'Alf-
hours on a trail, until I follered them to Boyle's
billiard-rooms, as I knows it well, and had swep
it often on a Sunday mornin'. They went in,
and I was tired of hangin' about, and was
goin' away, when I see Mr. Routh again;
there weren't nobody in the street but him and
me. I skulked into a lane, and watched him. I
don't know why I watched him, and I don't
know how long we was there— I a little way
down the lane, and he a saunterin' up and
down, and lookin' at the doors and the
windows, but never goin' nigh the house. It
must ha' been very late when the two gents
came out, and I was very tired; but the old
woman— that's my aunt, sir—and me had had
a row in the mornin', and I thought I'd like
to giv' her a fright, and stay out all night,
which I haven't often slep in the streets,
considerin'."

Jem had ceased to wriggle about on his
chair, to twist his cap between his hands, and
to shuffle his feet upon the floor. He was
nearly as motionless as the listeners, who heard
him in breathless silence. By degrees Clare
had drawn nearer to Mr. Felton, and she was
now standing, her hand in his, her head in its
former place upon his shoulder, behind Jim's
chair. But the character of the group formed
by the two was no longer what it had been;
the girl was supporting the man now; the girl
was silently nerving him to courage and
resolution.

"They came out, sir," the boy continued,
"very friendly-like and good humoured, and
Mr. Dallas, he were a-laughin', and he shook
hands with the other gent, which he called
hisself Mr. Deane—it were on the note; and lie
went away whistlin' down the very lane as I
was in, passed me close, and never saw me. I
saw him, though, quite plain, and I thought,
' You've been winnin', and you likes it;' but
still I had my eye on Mr. Routh, and presently
I sees him speakin' to the other gent, as was
puttin' on his big fur coat, which it had a 'ood
to it as I never see one like it afore. I thought
they wouldn't be pleasant together, and they
wasn't, not to judge by their voices, and I heerd
the other gent give a sneerin' kind of a laugh,
which were aggravatin'; and soon they walked
away together, through the Bar and up Fleet-
street, and I follered 'em, for I thought I'd
sleep under the dry arch of the bridge, and get