"Not to-morrow night. It would not be fair. You have to get to the office on the following morning, and a night of unrest may interfere with your duties. Your Sundays are free. Let us fix Saturday night."
"Very well, Ned. What explanation will you give to your wife?"
"I shall exercise a pardonable deceit upon her. On Saturday afternoon you and I will be supposed to be going to Brighton for a blow. She will raise no objection and we may depend upon her not disturbing us. Untold gold would not tempt her into that house again."
"I will join you," said Bob, in a serious tone. "I should not like you to be alone there."
So it was arranged, and I bade him good-night.
CHAPTER XVI.
[IN 79 LAMB'S TERRACE.]
As I supposed, my wife was entirely agreeable to the seaside excursion, and professed herself delighted at the idea.
"You should go about more," she said. "Too much moping at home is bad for a man. We don't notice the changes that take place in ourselves, but others do."
"You have noticed some change in me?" I asked.