ODOUR OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS

imagine that anything had happened to him ! He
was merely drinking over there at the " Prince of
Wales." She faltered. She had never yet been to
fetch him, and she never would go. So she con-
tinued her walk towards the long straggling line of
houses, standing blank on the highway. She
entered a passage between the dwellings.

" Mr. Rigley ? -- Yes ! Did you want him ? No,
he's not in at this minute."

The raw-boned woman leaned forward from her
dark scullery and peered at the other, upon whom
fell a dim light through the blind of the kitchen
window.

" Is it Mrs. Bates ? " she asked in a tone tinged
with respect.

" Yes. I wondered if your Master was at home.
Mine hasn't come yet."

" 'Asn't 'e ! Oh, Jack's been 'ome an 'ad 'is
dinner an' gone out. E's just gone for 'alf an hour
afore bedtime. Did you call at the ' Prince of
Wales ' ? "*

" No ---- "

" No, you didn't like ---- ! It's not very nice."
The other woman was indulgent. There was an
awkward pause. " Jack never said nothink about
-- about your Mester,"* she said.

" No ! -- I expect he's stuck in there ! "

Elizabeth Bates said this bitterly, and with reck
lessness. She knew that the woman across the yard
was standing at her door listening, but she did not
care. As she turned :

" Stop a minute ! I'll just go an' ask Jack if 'e
knows anythink* ," said Mrs. Rigley.