I couldn't see, and the pain of them made me helpless." "Then why did ye not send word to me at once, you fool ?" "Because I was concerned only to stop my eyes from burning," answered Mr.Green, in a towering rage at finding reproof where he had come in quest of sympathy.

"I have come to you at the first moment, damn you!" he burst out, in full rebellion.

"And you'll use me civilly now that I am come, or--ecod!--it'll be the worse for your lordship." Rotherby considered him through a faint mist that rage had set before his eyes.

To be so spoken to--damned indeed!--by a dirty spy! Had he been alone with the man, there can be little doubt but that he would have jeopardized his very precarious future by kicking Mr.Green downstairs.

But his mother saved him from that rashness.