Bray looked at Ralph as if to see whether he spoke in earnest, and having nodded twice or thrice in unqualified assent to what had fallen from him, said:

‘“To please me, love,” replied the baroness.

‘An unworthy one,’ replied Nicholas.

‘Ha, ha, ha!’ chuckled Peg, who, on her knees before the fire, was feeding it with fragments of the box, and grinning in most devilish exultation. ‘What’s that writing about, eh?’