“Well” said the beat warden, “I don’t mind obliging you, particularly as I haven’t anything of my own. Is there anything worth having up stairs, old fellow?”

“There is,” said Gray—“and recollect one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Should a man come of burly frame and bloated aspect, be assured he comes to take from you, if he can, all that I have given to you—be assured of that.”

“The deuce he does!”

“You will know him. He is rough of speech, and coarse and bulky. Beware of him!”

“But what shall I do with him?”

“Kill him—slaughter him. Take his life how and when you will—or maim him—do him some deadly harm, for, on my soul, I do not believe he has written any confession. Stay, I had forgotten.”

Gray hurried to the cupboard, and took from it the remainder of the poison he had given to Ada’s dog; then turning to the astonished bear warden, he said,—

“Remember, we shall meet again.”