When was
it he was speaking of you? Why, one day last week, to be sure.'
'Speakin' about me, eh?' said John, turning his glass round and
round on the table. And as the other remained silent, he added, 'You
can tell him, if you like, that my wife's been very bad for a long
time. Him an' me don't have nothing to say to each other--but you
can tell him that, if you like.'
'So I will,' replied Mr. Snowdon, nodding with a confidential air.
He had noticed from the beginning of his acquaintance with Hewett
that the latter showed no disinclination to receive news of
Kirkwood. As Clem's husband, Joseph was understood to be perfectly
aware of the state of things between the Hewetts and their former
friend, and in a recent conversation with Mrs. Hewett he had assured
himself that she, at all events, would be glad if the estrangement
could come to an end. For reasons of his own, Joseph gave narrow
attention to these signs.
The talk was turning to other matters, when a man who had just
entered the room and stood looking about him with an uneasy
expression caught sight of Hewett and approached him. He was
middle-aged, coarse of feature, clad in the creased black which a
certain type of artisan wears on Sunday.
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