, 1889-01-10

U
his black hair long enough for Il yiolinist,
and hal upon the smallest of hands the red
deSt and most prominent Of knuckle5 He
was rather good looking young man, with
brown eyes and black huShy eyebrows and
with Il habit nf shalini, his head suddenly
rs ii To get the hair lack from his forehead,
or as if lie had Just com" out Of water He
was fairly well drtss.,!. might have passed
even for a gentleman if il had not been for
his red knuckleS and that very obtruSivo
smile
Good afternoon, Misi Neild-for under
stand Your naIl4c is Ncild, he beg ~ am
very sorry for the third time in my life to be
such n complete nuisance to you. But |
think am i'll the right this time, being here
by invitation"
YES; l asked you TO call at a more
sonable hour, l remember" I replied,
''butr-
And owe you no end of apologies" he
added ''for the noise l made last night. l
was IN too much Of 4 hurry am naturally
impulsiyc in fact-and when the wind
| caught my umbrella and blew it clean out of
my hands into your AREA my first impulse
was TO run up the steps and knock"
Yes, l heard you knock l said, quietly.
NO, I'm sure you didn't" no said, fatty
| cuntradicting mo here; you couldn't have
| heard me the first time. for waited Il reason
| able period before i knocked again 1t was
! a tremendous while to wait with Il fellow
! drenched 10 the skin all the time. By George,
| / was never out i'll such rain. l shall catch
! nice cold, am afraid You have bad
| cold, young ladyF
~ caught cold last night"
"Not-not at that Window
Yes, at that window
''Oh, come, / am awfully sorry for that. "
| Mr.. Bird cried; II didn't think Of that. |
/ thought some gentleman, or servant, or por
ter might be up, for there was light burn
| ing over the hall door, and it wouldn't be Il
| great deal of trouble and save my getting
| wet through Why, | would much rather
have lost my umbrella altogether than have
| given you cold, although its an umbrella
! which would not take go fOr-nO, nor $50
| either"
is it a very valuable umbrcllaF'
"Oh, no, not at all; but, rs YOU know now,
| its my best umbrella i'll every sense of the
word, he said laughing, my very best UNI
brella, don't you See!"
But did not see: neither the application
nor the umbrella was apparent to me, and
| my heart quite sank at the news which had
| to impart to him. The ..In was so enwrappcd
| in his umbrella-spealng iiguratiyely-that
j
| gently.
| I'm sorry to say don't see" | replied,
! ''for the fact is
Yes, he was impulSiv". and dashed t. con-
| illusions; and the smile did leave his face as
suddenly and completely as if somebody had
| pulled it away 10y u string, and a settled look
| of horror, and for an instant open mouthed
idiocy, took its place.
The fact is" he repeated, very slowly at
| last; 'go OH, please"
That there WAS no umbrella down our
area at all"
"Ohl that won't do" he exclaimed, SO
abruptly and rudcly that I felt the color
coming up all over me; that won't do ut
any price,
Il don't know what you mean by any
price, sir" said, drawing myself up to my
full height, as the novcliStS say-and that
| height was exactly five feet three inches and
a half when fully drawn up and n little bit
on tiptoe-''but you must take my word, sir,
that l haven't set eyes ON your umbrella
"No, Miss Neild, | don't suppose you
| have" he said, very quickly; don't think
| that / think that you think-that-that-
why, of course, don't he said, tumblinE
into another sentence as the first one became
hopelessly involved, ''and III not ut all likely
| but it went down your Grca-I was perfectly
sober-and the servants must have seen it in
the morning. May ask the servantst"
81 have asked them"
| isn't there Il page boy or somebody who
comes early to clean something"
| "No"
Who is tho first to 20 into that area in the
morning, Miss Neildr' he inquired; ''some-
| body for Goals, SUPPOSE
Bridget or Sarah, certainly
Il should very much like to SEQ Bridget
and Sarah, ," he suggested, ''if you would not
| object"
You must be content with my word, sir
that your umbrella is not on the premises, "
l said, still loftily; ~ cannot have my ser
wants subjected TO crosS-examination on
| this question. l have already made every
inquiry
'They tell you they have not seen my UNI
brella!'
They do"
"And you believe themr
Certainly
"Wen, l dont-and that's plain speak
ing" he said frantically
I'm aware of that"
because, you see, it is quite impossible,
unless there's anybody else i'll the house who
| gets up earlier than the servants. Is there
anybody else!' he asked.
"Ycs, there's q gentleman who lodges i'll
my front parlors, who leaves very early,
| but
That's the man. Where il hef" cried
slr. Bird, with frantic dash i'll a new Iii
recton Of suspicion. II should like TO soc
him"
oI the railway, and is not at ali likely 10 c"a-
ti5catc property that does not belong TO him,
| said.
| Il do.'t say Ec has confiScatcd L." an
swerrd Mr.. Bird, less hrIsqueIy, but hc
Eay have seen it this morning, 2nd put Ii
aside for further inquiries
Mr.. Goodc is not i'll tho habit Of going
into my area l said; ~ don't believe hc has
been in the area i'll the whole course of his
| life"
Not before this morning, Miss Neild-
very likely not, having nothing to 80 for, a'
It were. Dut when he caught sight OF an
umbrclla-and very peculiar umbrella
| lying on the wet stones, / haven't the slight
est dnubtn-
"Hc could not get into the area, sir" /
said; Bridget takes up the key with her
| every night and, besides, told him about
the umbrella this morning"
| What did he say to thati'
| lie said it was like your impertincnce-
confUunded impertinencc,' l may say, were
| the actual words used" | answered, Ito
make such n noise in the middle OF the night,
and he should like to give you piece of bis
mind"
''Oh! he said that, did hec' he remarked,
biting his finger mills almost savagely.
| YES"
Then he's the man who's got my umbrel-
10" he cried; Il see it all now. Hes keeping
it back out of spiteln
! "Mr. Bird, this is absolutely uncomfortable" "