At the close of his effort he sat down and lighted another cigar.

Growing drowsy, he laid it down on a little stand at his side, and settled back in his chair for a nap.

He had hardly shut his eyes when there came a rap upon his door.
"Come in!" "Please, sir," said a scared-looking maid, opening the door just wide enough to make room for her face.
"Well ?" in a voice so sharp and harsh that the girl cringed.
"Please, sir, Miss Butterworth is at the door, and would like to see you." Now, Miss Butterworth was the one person in all Sevenoaks who was not afraid of Robert Belcher.

She had been at the public school with him when they were children; she had known every circumstance of his history; she was not dependent on him in any way, and she carried in her head an honest and fearless tongue.

She was an itinerant tailoress, and having worked, first and last, in nearly every family in the town, she knew the circumstances of them all, and knew too well the connection of Robert Belcher with their troubles and reverses.