she would give him, and five guineas for the
second; that, perhaps, she only pretended to
be more nice than other people, who were
just as good-looking as herself; and other
remarks in a similar strain, which were
received with applause by the women present,
and by Bammant with merely a knowing
wink of the eye.

Within a fortnight, Jane by some means
was persuaded that Rudd was the vilest and
the most debauched of men, who had hitherto
only escaped discovery, by being the most
artful. Rudd, in turn, was fully persuaded
that Jane, with all her pretended innocence,
was a faithless, double-dealing girl, looking
out for nothing but the main chance; her
character had not been attempted to be
injured in his opinion, but he was convinced
that she liked to have two, if not three,
strings to her bow—  and that did not suit
him. The parish soon knew that the
"acquaintance " had grown cold, though no one
was able exactly to state the reason why.
Neither can I explain precisely the means
by which the breach was effected; I believe,
however, that anonymous letters, personations,
the mixing up of a particle of truth
with a mountain of falsehood, and the
assistance of confederates, were means of
intrigue in which Bammant was a practised
proficient.

He was now going on so smoothly, that
he hoped for further successes. One morning,
it was found that the counting-room belonging
to the mill (where all the books, papers,
and cash were kept) had been attempted to
be broken into during the night.  A bar had
been removed; some of the things lying
within reach were disturbed, but nothing
taken away.  Other parts of the premises
also bore traces of burglarious attempts. The
men were more uneasy than ever.  Who
could have done this?  Such a thing had
never been heard of in Shroudham.
Bammant gave it as his opinion, as the miller
was passing by, that the place was not safe,
unless some confidential person slept in the
counting-room; and the expression of his
face seemed to signify to the miller, that he,
Bammant, had no objection to be selected
as the trustworthy guardian of the treasures of
the mill.

The miller, however , had his eyes open.
He sent for an officer of experience. They
inspected the premises together,  marked well
the spots at which the burglary had been
attempted, and after an hour's private
consultation, the officer left.  Half-an hour
afterwards Bammant had been paid off, and
was walking slowly homewards, with a
variety of strange thoughts crowding into
his brain.  To his urgent inquiries why he
had been so dismissed—was he suspected of
attempting a robbery?—to his remonstrance,
what a cruel thing it was to him, with a wife
and family, what an injury to his character,
to send him away so suddenly at such a time—

the only answer the miller would give him,
besides contemptuous and indignant looks,
was a command to take himself off instantly,
and to trouble the place with his presence as
little as possible in future.

He remained some weeks out of work,
idling about the country, relating his
grievances to whoever would listen to him,
and calumniating his late employer and his
fellow- workmen in the ears of every one
who did not turn away from his slanderous
tongue. Subsequently, by some influence
of his wife's family, he got the cottage and
the charge of the marsh-mill where I saw
him. But the sources of the income by
which his weekly expenditure (extravagantly
large for his station) was defrayed, were
a matter of mystery to some of his neighbours,
and of dark surmises and hints to
others.

Rudd could not settle comfortably to work,
even after Bammant had left. There seemed
no probability of any explanation and
reconciliation between himself and Jane. They
neither of them had a sufficient clue to the
real nature of the " honest lago," who had
contrived their rmitual estrangement to
guide them to a mutual understanding. Of
course there had come on a coldness between
himself and Haven. It is hard to have
the wreck of one's hopes constantly in sight;
so one day he informed the miller that
he thought of leaving and getting employ-
ment elsewhere, as soon as his master
could suit himself with a man to take his
place.

Rudd shortly left the mill, with expressions
of regret and respect on the part
of his master, and with offers of ready and
willing occasional service on his own; sincere
on both sides. He did not, however,
continue his old trade of a miller, but, a good
opportunity offering, he started a public
conveyance for passengers and parcels
between Shroudham and the county town,
every market-day.

People have sometimes found, in the course
of their lives, that the enemy, who has failed
to crush and ruin them entirely, has, instead
of that, just placed their foot on the first
stave of the ladder by which they are to
mount to success and good fortune. So it
was with .Rudd. Though grieved at heart,
he was not dispirited; he was active, enterprising,
and punctual in his dealings; people
trusted him more and more, in spite of
slanders and attempted opposition by the
Bammant gang. An inn fell vacant; he took
it, with the aid of his mother, a widow,
but still an active woman, who acted as his
housekeeper. Custom came; the concern
throve; his connexion with the East- Anglian
capital gave him an opportunity of dealing,
profitably to himself and with advantage to
all parties, in many of the peculiar products
of that isolated district. Knowing heads
believed that though there was but little show