He showed no particular signs of consciousness, and Mildred added,—
"You say you were here once, since that time that I saw you. And that must have been when Mr. Gilbert was preaching for the new lifeboat. That was the time, I think, when he said so much about Nobody's Business. Mr. Gilbert was in great difficulties about getting all the money he wanted. And some one generously gave ninety pounds towards it." Mildred forgot that she had once condemned any attempt to find out the donor. People are not always consistent.
"Ah!" Mr. Willoughby answered gravely. "That was quite right of somebody." Then, as he met Mildred's smile, "You are a little too keen in putting two and two together. I ought to have kept clear of these subjects,—but—the fact is, I had a wish to know you better, after the curious beginning of our acquaintanceship. So it seemed natural to tell you frankly a little about myself. But if I do not deny what you suggest, I shall ask you to keep my secret."
"May I some day tell the Vicar? He would be so much interested. It almost seems as if he ought to know."
"I don't see the need; but I won't make a fuss and tie you down too closely. If you have no especial reason for telling him, please say nothing. If you have, then ask him to let it go no farther. There is too much in this day of making everything public that one does. And, after all, what was it worth? I did not want the money for myself. I had enough besides for every need of my own."
[CHAPTER XXV]
THE NEW LIFEBOAT
NOTHING at this time gave greater pleasure to the Vicar than to get hold of some outsider, not yet up in the subject of lifeboats, and to display to him, or at least to pour out to him all particulars connected with the now possession of Old Maxham. A school-boy with a new bat is not more eager over that bat, than was Mr. Gilbert over the new boat; only, his was joy on behalf of others, while the schoolboy's delight is on behalf of himself.
One afternoon, two or three days after Mildred's encounter with Mr. Willoughby, the Vicar had paused in a road just outside the village, for a few words with the doctor; and as they talked, a figure could be descried coming along the road at some distance.
"There comes one of my friends," Mr. Bateson naturally remarked. "Mr. Willoughby."