never want to see dick or any of you again that is unlucky for me said but since i have reached this nice place i shall stay here the month and talk with perhaps if he and that pretty lady will have me i shall stay longer but i too do not want the company of dick as for you dear if you wish to go they told you the road is open it will save much trouble to everybody i shall not go exclaimed why should i leave my husband with that woman who has no right to him i am not so sure answered thoughtfully if my little dog is caught in a trap and is ill and i kick it into the street and leave it there to starve and some kind lady comes and takes my little dog and gives it a good home for years can i say that she has no right to it just because i find out after all that it is a valuable little dog and that i am � oh so fond of it please stop talking nonsense about little dogs is not a dog no but then why should he have been treated as one if such a dog would have learned to love its new mistress is it wonderful that he should do the same but have you learnt to care for him at last that you should want him back so much he who lives here good and happy i don t know snapped but i won t leave him with that other woman if i can help it i don t trust all that nonsense i am going to bed and she went but still sat for a long time and gazed at the desert there making her accustomed prayers oh god in heaven she ended them help those two poor people whom thou hast tried so sorely and as she spoke the words a conviction came into her mind that they would be heard then feeling comforted she too went to her bed in the morning received a note from it was the first time that she had seen his handwriting for many a year it ran dear � i will not debate the strange circumstances in which we find ourselves and i write to ask that during the month you will avoid all allusion to them the facts are known to us both to discuss them further can only lead to unnecessary bitterness and perhaps prevent a peaceful solution of the trouble if you agree to this i write on behalf of the lady and myself to say that we are ready to enter into a like undertaking and that we shall be happy to see you here whenever you wish i of tbe if on the other hand you do not agree then i think that we had best keep apart until the day when i have promised to give an answer to your question a messenger will bring me your written reply thought a while then she took a piece of paper and wrote upon it with a pencil i agree p � i a letter which i have for you he wrote it shortly before he died also there are some from the lawyers after all she reflected to herself as she saw the depart swiftly carrying her packet on the top of a stick it will give me a little time to look round in peace is right it is no use moreover he and that woman are masters here and i must obey within an hour the returned again bearing another note from which in very queer english asked them both to honour them with their company at the midday meal they went and on the way met dick who had received a similar invitation on arriving at the town they found seated beneath the of his house and upon the ground around him a considerable number of people all of them suffering from various complaints together with some women who held sick children in their arms he bowed to them and called out in a cheerful voice forgive me for a little while i have nearly finished my morning s and perhaps you had better stand back for some of these are and dick took the hint at once riding their animals into the shade of a tree a little way off not so descending from her donkey with a she marched straight to and shook his hand two minutes later they perceived that she was helping him to wounds and dispense how she can exclaimed and the worst of it is she is sure to bring some filthy disease back with her just think of taking to all those horrid people they say he is uncommonly clever at it answered dick and will ride for miles to see a sick person perhaps that is why they are so fond of him why don t you go to help him asked you studied medicine for two years before you went to the bar thanks he answered i think it is pleasanter sitting under this tree with you at present i am not a candidate for popular affection so i don t see why i should take any risks doesn t mind risks said no he said one of his characteristics always was to like what is disagreeable and dangerous in that fact lies your best chance he may even make up his mind to abandon an existence which seems to suit him exactly and return to the joys of you are even than usual dick she said why did you come here at all we never asked you you cannot pretend that gentleness has been your prevailing note of late for the rest considering that on the results of this inquiry depended whether i should be one of the richest men in england or a beggar it is 