She  might  even  guess  the  truth.  And  if  she  knew  that,"
he  added  in  a  lower  tone,  "  she  would  never  forgive  me."

The  marquis  looked  at  him  curiously.  "You  are  a
strange  person,"  he  said.  "You  prefer  poverty,  priva-
tions, and  all  the  squalid  discomforts  of  life,  just  for  the
sake  of  having  that  girl  walk  by  your  side?"

"I  do,"  Drake  answered.  "You  look  at  me  and  you
wonder,  I  suppose.  You  think  that  a  creature  such  as  I
am  has  no  right  to  the  heart  of  a  man.  Perhaps  you  are
right.  I  do  not  know  that  it  matters."

"Supposing,"  the  marquis  said,  "that  your  health  broke
down,  and  the  girl  was  alone?"

Drake  was  unmoved.  The  shadow  of  a  smile  played
about  his  lips.  "I  have  had  that  fear,"  he  said,  "and  I
have  provided  against  it."

"At  the  same  time,"  the  marquis  said,  "I  cannot  see
why  you  should  not  allow  me,  for  the  girl's  sake,  to  help
you."

"I  tell  you  that  I  will  not  touch  your  money,"  Ambrose


30  PASSERS-BY

answered.  "We  take  pennies  every  day  from  all  alike,
from  thieves  and  vagabonds,  sinners  of  every  class.  But
to  us  they  are  strangers,  they  are  just  the  flotsam  and
jetsam  of  the  world,  paying  their  tribute  as  they  pass  by.
You  are  different.  We  know  who  you  are."

The  marquis  rose  to  his  feet  with  an  uneasy  little  laugh.
He  thrust  his  hands  deep  into  the  pockets  of  his  quilted
smoking-jacket,  and  he  stood  upright  on  his  hearth-rug,
an  attitude  not  by  any  means  ungraceful.  "You  are  the
strangest  person  I  ever  met  in  my  life,"  he  said  to  Drake.
"Tell  me,  where  were  you  born?  Of  what  nation  are
you  ?  Surely  you  speak  English  too  well  to  be  a  foreigner.
