"Proper thing when you mean to make a fresh start! Suppose you take a drink and help." A whisky bottle and a glass stood on the table, and Festing thought Charnock had taken some liquor, although he was not drunk.

Stooping down, he began to pick up the papers, which, for the most part, looked like bills.

There were, however, a few letters in a woman's hand, and by and by he found a bit of riband, a glove, and a locket that seemed to have been trampled on.
"Are these to be burned ?" he asked.
"Yes," said Charnock.

"Don't want them about to remind me----Burn the lot." Festing, with some reluctance, threw them into the stove.

He was not, as a rule, romantic, but it jarred him to see the things destroyed.