"It will be your interest to do so," was the masterful rejoinder, "or something unpleasant might happen."
"But I want to ask you—"
"I told you not to ask questions, old man," interrupted Mr. Sheldrake, with a frown.
"I must ask you this one," said Muzzy, with a courage which surprised even himself.
"If you must, you must. What is it?"
"Lizzie's a good girl, sir."
"Who said she wasn't?"
"She has been almost a daughter to me, sir. I have lived a lonely life for many, many years, until she took the room next to me, and then after a little while everything seemed changed. If you were to ask me who in the whole world I would sooner serve than any other, I would mention her--excepting you, sir, of course."
"What are you driving at, old man?"
"Rather than any harm should come to her through me, I would never see her again. I would go away. And you don't know, sir, what it is to live alone; to feel that you are growing older and older, and to be tormented with bad dreams and bad fancies; and not to have one person in the world to give you a smile or a cheerful word."