"I wish you good-night, Miss," said the man; "and thank you kindly for
Bess and the children."

"Good-night," she replied, stepping aside to avoid any salutation from
Smilash. But he went up to her and said in a low voice, and with the
Trefusis manner and accent:

"Good-night, Miss Wilson. If you should ever be in want of the services
of a dog, a man, or a domestic engineer, remind Smilash of Bess and the
children, and he will act for you in any of those capacities."

They opened the door cautiously, and found that the wind, conquered by
the rain, had abated. Miss Wilson's candle, though it flickered in the
draught, was not extinguished this time; and she was presently left with
the housekeeper, bolting and chaining the door, and listening to the
crunching of feet on the gravel outside dying away through the steady
pattering of the rain.



CHAPTER VII

Agatha was at this time in her seventeenth year. She had a lively
perception of the foibles of others, and no reverence for her
seniors, whom she thought dull, cautious, and ridiculously amenable by
commonplaces. But she was subject to the illusion which disables youth
in spite of its superiority to age. She thought herself an exception.
Crediting Mr. Jansenius and the general mob of mankind with nothing
but a grovelling consciousness of some few material facts, she felt