me he seemed hurt and walked away in silence to the foot of the stairs where he paused you do not understand me said he i am not a j and i guard myself that is all it may weary you or not mr i do not care a rush i f speak for my own satisfaction and not for your amuse j ment you had better go upstairs and court the girl f for my part i stay here j and i stay with you i returned do you think j i would steal a march even with your permission frank he said smiling it s a pity you are an the pa vi li on on the links ass for you have the of a man i think i must he to day you cannot me even when you try do you know he continued softly i think we are the two most miserable men in england you and i we have got on to thirty without wife or child or so much as a shop to look after � poor pitiful lost devils both and now we clash about a girl as if there were not several millions in the united kingdom ah frank frank the one who loses his throw be it you or me he has my pity it were better for him � how does the bible say � that a were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the depth of the sea let us take a drink he concluded suddenly but without any levity of tone i was touched by his words and consented he sat down on the table in the dining room and held up the glass of to his eye if you beat me frank he said i shall take to drink what will you do if it goes the other way god knows i returned well said he here is a toast in the meantime the remainder of the day was passed in the same dreadful and suspense i laid the table for dinner while north and prepared the meal together in the kitchen i could hear their talk as i went to and fro and was surprised to find it ran all the time upon myself again us together and rallied on a choice of husbands but he continued to speak of me with some feeling and uttered nothing to my prejudice unless he included himself in the condemnation this awakened a sense of gratitude in my heart which combined with the of our peril to fill my eyes with tears after all i thought � and perhaps the thought was vain � we were here three very noble human beings to perish in of a banker before we sat down to table i looked forth from an upstairs window the day was beginning to decline nights the links were utterly deserted the despatch box still lay untouched where we had left it hours before mr in a long yellow dressing gown took one end of the table the other while and i faced each other from the sides the lamp was brightly trimmed the wine was good the although mostly cold excellent of their sort we seemed to have agreed all reference to the impending catastrophe was carefully avoided and considering our tragic circumstances we made a party than could have been expected from time to time it is true or i would rise from the table and make a round of the and on each of these occasions mr was recalled to a sense of his tragic glanced up with ghastly eyes and bore for an instant on his countenance the stamp of terror but he hastened to empty his glass wiped his forehead with his handkerchief and joined again in the conversation i was astonished at the wit and information he displayed mr s was certainly no ordinary character he had read and observed for himself his gifts were sound and though i could never have learned to love the man i began to understand his success in business and the great respect in which he had been held before his failure he had above all the talent of society and though i never heard him speak but on this one and most occasion i set him down among the most brilliant i ever met he was relating with great and seemingly no feeling of shame the of a commission merchant whom he had known and studied in his youth and we were all listening with an odd mixture of mirth and embarrassment when our little party was brought abruptly to an end in the most startling manner a noise like that of a wet finger on the window pane interrupted mr s tale and in an instant the pa on the links we were all four as white as paper and sat tongue tied and motionless round the table a i said at last for i had heard that these animals make a noise somewhat similar in character be d� d said hush the same sound was repeated twice at regular intervals and then a formidable voice shouted through the shutters the italian word t mr threw his head in the air his eyelids quivered next moment he fell insensible below the table and i had each run to the and seized a gun was on her feet with her hand at her throat so we stood waiting for we thought the hour of attack was certainly come but second passed after second and all but the surf remained silent in the neighborhood of the quick said upstairs with him before they come chapter viii tells the last of the tall man somehow or other by hook and and between the three of us we got upstairs and laid upon the bed in my uncle s room during the whole process which was rough enough he gave no sign of consciousness 