Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-10-17

S'';lJh! III o.ic ol tie SUBURBS 81 London. Iils
laiy-krown To local fame as Miss Wi-ccr-
hal already proposed To- take SyI into train
In; a. pupil teacher. I'll force the child
ON, Miss Wi--er promised. It'll She can
cau4 h,r board and lodging by taking my
lowest class. When Size .:ct> Older She viii
replace my Regular goYcrrcs> and shall s.yt
the larry"
With this lTole,,,! waiting FOR 9 reply MIS-
WcS,or;icid had only 70 inform her SISTER t:la'
il w&S accepted. Cone here" she wrote
"on Friday next al any time leirrc TIVE
O'Clock aid sgd shall ao ready Tor You. T.
ST. am To be married again on Thursday
and start for AmcI.t.i V III NV husband aiid
my boy by next Saturdays steamer"
The letter was posted. and the mothers
anxious mind Wa, 10 Use her own phrase, re-
licvcd OF another Worry.
As the hour Of drew near on "Wednesday
evening Mrs. WeStcr.icld's anxiety forced
her Ia lind relief III action of some kind. She
opened the door Of her sitting room. and list
ened On the stairs. Ii still wanted few
minutes 10 O'Clock when there was a ring
at the household. She ran down to open the
door. The servant happened to be in the
hall and answered the bell. The next mo-
ment the door was suddenly closed again.
Anybody therc?" Mrs. Westertield asked.
mo, ma'am.'
This seemed strange. Had the old wretch
deceived her, after all? Look in the letter
box" she called out. The servant obeyed
and found letter. Mrs. Wcste field tore il
open, standing on the stairs. IL contained
half sheet of common note paper. The in
depreciation of the cipher was written on it
in these words:
Remember No. IL Purbeck road. St
Johns Wood. Go to the summer house in
the back garden. Count to the fourth plank
in the floor, reckoning from the side wall on
the night as you enter the summer house.
Prize up the plank. Look under the mold
and rubbish. Find the diamonds"
Not word of explanation accompanied
these lines. Neither had the original cipher
been returned. The strange old man had
earned his money and had not attended to
receive it-had not even sent word where or
how it might be paid! Had he delivered his
letter himself? lie Tor his messenger) had
gone before the house door could be opened.
A sudden suspicion o. him turned her cold.
Had he stolen the diamonds? She was OH
the point Of sending for cab, and driving to
his lodgings, when James came in, eager to
know if the Interpretation had arrived.
Keeping her suspicious to herself, she
merely informed him that the Interpretation
was in her hands. He at once asked to see
it. She refused to show it to him until he
had made her his wife. Put chisel in
your pocket when We go to church to-mor-
row morning." was the one hint she gave
him. AS thoroughly worthy of each other as
ever, the betrothed lovers distrusted each
other to the last.
At IL o'clock next morning they were
united in the bonds Of wedlock; the land
lord and landlady of the public house in
which they had both served being the only
| witnesses present. The children were not
permitted to see the ceremony. On leaving
the church door the married pair began their
honeymoon by driving to St Johns Wood.
A dirty printed notice, in broken window,
! announced that the house was to let; and a
sOur-tempered woman Informed them that
they were free to look at the rooms.
The bride was In the best of humors. She
set the bridegroom the example of keeping
up appearances by examining the dilapidated
house first. This done, she said sweetly to
the person in charge: May we look at the
garicn"
The woman made strange answer to this
request "That's curious" she said.
James interfered for the first time. whats
curious?' he asked, roughly.
Among all the idle people who have come
here, at one time or another, to see this
house." the woman said, ''Only two have
wanted to look at the garden"
James turned on his heel, and made fol-
the summer-housc; leaving his wife to pur-
sue the subject or not as she pleased. She
did pursue the subject.
Il am one of the persons, of course" she
said. who is the other?'
IAN old man came on Monday"
The brides pleasant smile vanished.
'What sort of person was hep she asked.
The soul-tempercd woman became sourer
than ever. ''Oh, how can l tell? A brute.
There!'
IA brute?" The very words which the
| new Mrs. Bellbridge had herself used when
the expert had irritated her. With serious
misgivings, she too turned her steps in the
direction of the garden.
James had already followed her instruc.
tons and used BIZ ctisel. The plank lay
loose on the flC9r With both his hands he
rapidly cleared a.say the mold and the rub
bish. In few minutes the hiding place was
laid bare.
They looked into it. They looked at each
other. There was the empty hole. telling its