At the sight of my basket and its contents the man fell to. With just such a rage have I seen a sailor picked up at sea from an open boat, fall upon food and devour it. Nor did Sam finish till he had devoured the whole of the cold beef and bread—a goodly ration—and swallowed the whole of the bottle of wine, a generous allowance. Then he breathed a sigh of satisfaction, and put on the thick coat which I had bought for him.
"Well," I said, "can we now talk?"
"Jack, you have saved my life; but I shall be hungry again to-morrow. Lend me a little money."
"I will lend you a guinea or two. But tell me first how came you here? I thought you were in the confidence of a certain noble lord."
"He is a villain, Jack. He is the greatest villain unhung. Oh! hanging is too good for him. After all I did for him! The lying villain!"
"What you did for him, Sam, was to give him the chance of ruining the property of an innocent and helpless girl."
"I gave him the heiress. Was it nothing to promote the daughter of a plain merchant and make her a countess?"
"Tell me more. What were you to get for it?"
"It was I who invented an excuse for taking my lord and his friends to Lynn."
"Yes, I understand. You invented the spa. The water in the well——"