, 1876-07-14

required % be lu bNraras at night. a
capital companion, Phil could spin q
,uy.al cltTrr or sing . r1ieAlug song
with the best. and # he happened to be
in good company when the first post
sounded. the last niglt-rouuj, too, and
lights out, into tho bargain. without
his making any attempt to leave 1t.
OF course, this WAS sort OF thing
that couldn't be looked over, especially
in q non-commissioued officer who was
supposed to show good example, and
so, after getting two or three chances
and some good advice from tho colonel,
who really wanted to push him on, Phil
reverted to private again. And I'm not
bit sorry for it, old fellow, he said to
me afterwards, for now | can do as l
like, instead of having always to mind
my P's and Q's' And to do him JUS
tice, Phil Burke made the most of his
opportunities. We were quartered in
Canterbury at the time, and one favOrite
resort of Phil's was little beer house Just
outside Sturry. The Bag o Nails, was
the sign; it wasn't used much by the
fellows, being rather q long walk, and
there was q good deal of wounderment
when Phil gradually got lost sight of at
the free-and-easy that was held at the
Feathers in the town every night, and
his comrades got wind of where he
went to- However, he usen't to talk
much about it, only once he confessed
to me, for we were very thick, that there
was a slip of girl at the Bag o Nails
that he was counting.
Don't say anything about it to the
others, he asked me. Mary isn't the
sort of girl that 1 could bear to hear
lightly spoken about, and you know
what chaps are
$50 1 promised him, and kept my
word, you may be sure, and 1 heard a
good deal, now and again, about Phils
courting, you may be sure of that, too,
for when q young fellows in love he
must have some one to confide in. It
was Mary's aunt who kept the Bag O.
Nails, stout, comely-lOoking widow.
Among the regular visitors to the house
was an old soldier, Tom Dillon by name,
and Mary told Phil that he and her aunt,
Mrs. Brandon, had been sweethearts
when they were young, but parted
through some tiff, and when Dillon, as
he did soon after, enlisted, she married
another man.
Meanwhile, Tom Dillon went knock
ing about the world with his regiment,
which at last was ordered to Canterbury.
He soon found his way over to Sturry,
where he had been born, and resumed
his acquaintance with many old friends,
among them, Mrs. Brandon, whose hus-
band was then alive, but had no idea
that the man who came amongst them
after so many years absence was an old
sweetheart Of his wife's.
("Other people knew it, though, and
many who had forgotten the circum-
stances were reminded of it by their
neighbors, who began to talk in myste-
rious hints when it was found that Tom
billions scarlet jacket was constantly to
be seen in the little bar-parlor of the
Bag O. Nails
"Of course you'll understand thatall
this happened before we went to Can
terbury, and Phil Burke only got it at
secondhand from Mary, who was little
more than child when Dillon made his
reappearance in the village. As said,
people began to talk about him and Mrs.
Brandon in strange whispers long be-
fore her husband suspected anything
amiss; but the time came when his eyes
were opened, and the next time Tom
Dillon made his appearance at the Bag
o Nails there was q regular shindy.
"Well, Dillon left the house, Of
course; but after he was gone there was
a worse row between Dick Brandon and
his wife, he swearing that Tom should
never go there again, and she declaring
that he should, that the sooner such q
ne'er-do-well as he-mesning her hus-
hand-was out Of the way, the better,
that she had never cared for him, and .
great deal more of such things as people
will say when they get in . rage, and
the end of it was that he thrashed her,
and she left the house to seek refuge
with her sister-in-law, who lived in the
village.
Next morning Dick Brandon was
found dead behind the bar in his own
house.
"Dead-murdered there could be no
doubt of that, with his head battered
in, evidently done with some blunt in
strument.
SThe cash box had been stolen, so it
was evidently the work of thieves,
though they weren't wanting people who
more than once hinted that Mrs. Bran
don had either done it herself or set
Tom Dillon on to commit the deed.
However, the evidence at the inquest,
if it did not stop the talking went right
against such 9 supposition. It was
shown plainly enough that the woman
could have had no hand in it, for she
left the house directly after her husband
beat her, going no further than her sis
murdered mans own
sister, who proved that Mrs. Brandon
did not once leave her house after enter
iEg it till news of the horrible discovery