Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-02-16

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l that along and a across could be reck
: oned on those unlucky frnges, reckoned Of
them-prohed with my penknife-scratcbe
WIN my nails-crunched with my fingers
NO use not sign of letter and the tim
was getting on-oh, Lord how the time di,
Se. on IN Mr.. Davagers room that morning.
: jumped down from the bed, so desperat,
at my ill-luck that hardly cared whethe,
anyhody heard me or not Quite a littl,
cloud oil dust arose..at my feet as they thump'c
on the carpet. Halo . thought [ m,
,rienu the head chambermaid takes it cas-,
mere. Nee state for carpet to be in, in on,t
carpet! had been jumping up on the bed
ana staring up at the walls. but had never
80 ihucn as given glance down at the car.
pet lhink OF me pretending to be a lawyer
and not Knowing how to look low enoupit
Inc Carpet 1t has been a stout article
IN It's time had evidently begun in n draw.
lng-room; then descended to a coff .e-room
u, .neh gone upstairs altogether to IA bedroom
ine ground was brown, and pattern was
pu'ch,s OF leaves and roses speckled over the
ground ut regular distances | reckoned mn
the bunches. Ten along the roomweigit
across it, When had stepped ont five one
way anu fOur tile other, and was down On
my knees on tie centre bunch. as true as |
SIT on this bench, | could hear my own heart
beating so loud that it quite frightened me-
l looked narrowly all over the bunch. and
itlt all over it with the ends of my fingers :;
and nothing came of that. Then | scruped
1t over slowly and gently with my nails My
! second fngernail struck a little Mt one Mace
parted the pile of the carpet over that
place, and saw thin slit, which had been
hidden by the pile being smoothed over it
slit about half an inch long, with little
end OF brown thread, exactly the colour of
the carpet-ground sticking out about n quar-
ter OF an inch from the middle oft. Just as
| laid hold of the thread gently, heard IA
footstep outside the door.
ltw was only the head chambermaid. 'Havnt
you done yet = she whispers.
Give me two minutes says and
don't let anybody near the door-whatever
you do don't let anybody startle me again by
coming near the door
L took little pull at the thread, and
heard something rustic. took longer
pull, and out came piece of paper, rolled
up tight like those candle-lighters that the
ladies make. | unrolled it-and, by George
gentlemen all, there was the letter
The original letter IL know At by the
colour of the ink. The letter was worth five
hundred pounds to me 1t was all could do
to keep myself at first from throwing my hat
into f." IL, and hooraying like mad had
10 take chair and sit quiet in it for minute
or two, before | could cool myself down to
my proper business level. knew that
was safely down again when found myself
wondering how to let Mr.. .Davager know that
he had been done by the innocent country
attorney after all
1t was not long before q nice little irrita-
ting plan occurred to me- tore .. blank
leaf out of my pocket-book, wrote on 1t with
my pencil Change for u five hundred pound
note, folded up the paper, tied the thread
to 1t, poked 1t back into the hiding place
smoothed over the pile of the carpet, and
as everybody in this place guesses before |
can tell them-bolted off to Mr. Frank. He,
IN his turn, bolted on to show the letter to
the young lady, who first certified to its
genuineness, then dropped it into the fire,
and then took the initiative for the first time
since her marriage engagement, by dnging
her arms round his nook, kissing linn ~itIr
all her might, and going into Mysteries in his
arms. So ut least Mr. Frank told Inc but
that is not evidence. 1t is evidence, however,
that saw them married with my own eyes
an the. Wednesday, and that while they
went OH In carriage and four to spend the
honeymoon, went off on my own leps to
open credit at the Town and County Bank
with hve hundred pound note in nv pocket
As to Mr. Davager, can tell you nothing
about him, except what is derived from
hearsay evidence, which is always unsatis-
factory evidence, even in lawyer mouth.
My boy Tom although twice kicked off by
Sam the pony, never lost hold of the bride.
ana kept his man in sight rom first to last
lie had nothing particular to report, except
that on the way out to the Abby Mr.. Daya-
ger had stopped at the public-housc, had
spoken II word or two to his friend of the
night before, and had handed him what
looked like bit of paper This was no
doubt II clue to the thread that held th.
letter, to be used in case of accidents. In
every other respect Mr.. ID. had ridden out
ana ridden in like an ordinary sght-secr.
iom reported him to Inc as having dsmounted
ut the hotel about two. At hall-mst. |
locked my Office door, nailed card under the
knocker with not at home till tomorrow
written on it, and retired to friends hous.
mile or So out of the town for the rest of
the dav.
Mr.. Davager left the Gatliffs Arms that
night, with his best clothes on his back, and
with all the valuable contents of his dressing
case IN his pockets. am not in II condition
to state whether he ever went through the
form of asking for his bill or not but | can
positively testify that he never paid it, and
that the effects left in his bedroom did not
pay it either. When | add to these frag-
ments of evidence, that he and | have never
met Quickly for me), since jockeyed him
out OF his bank note, have about fulfilled
my implied contract as maker of a statement,
with the present company as hearers of a
statement