plays?" "The same," I assented, "and the gentleman's very hungry." "You shall have supper in a few minutes," cried Mrs. Giles, much impressed with the angel she had hitherto entertained unawares. "Sam, did you bring back that bacon?" "Nor I didn't, my dear, 'cos there wasn't anyone to sell the bacon, Mrs. Caldershaw being dead." "Ugh!" shuddered the little woman. "I'll never be able to eat another thing out of that shop. A murder----" "We don't know that it's a murder," interposed her husband hastily. I laughed. "You shouted murder lustily enough when you had me down, Giles." The man looked sheepish. "I made a mistake and thought you was a robber, until I saw you were a gent." "Well a gent can be a robber, you know. Many gents are." "They steal something more valuable than glass eyes, sir." I rather liked Giles, who was a burly, heavy-faced animal man, with, as I said before, a most engaging smile. His jaw was of the bull-dog order, but his eyes were extremely intelligent, so I judged that his native wits had been considerably sharpened by his sojourn in the Borough of Southwark. Such a man could easily master the less travelled villagers, and I found that such was the case. Giles acted as a kind of headman of Mootley, and his opinion carried great weight in the village councils. It was just as well that I had fallen into the hands of such a man, otherwise, unable to see that I was innocent of assault and robbery, I should have been less hospitably treated. As it was, I found myself extremely comfortable. Mrs. Giles bustled about in a cheery way, although the news of Mrs. Caldershaw's death seemed to have somewhat scared her. While getting the supper and laying the cloth and attending to the kettle she would frequently pause to consider her husband's story. "I rather think she expected it," said Mrs. Giles, putting a pot of jam on the table. "Expected what, Sarah?" asked her husband, guessing what she alluded to. "Death, Sam, death. She told me once that she was sure she would not die in her bed."
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