Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-02-20
CHAPTER XIII.

In his astonishment at Mrs. Rayner's ghost-!iEe entrance and appearance, MT. Carruthcrs had not paid much att tcntion to the end of my question, and l drtrrnlin d to try to get another op- portunity of putting it to him. He eN- pressed his sorrow to Mrs. Rayner at having caused her the trouble of re- cciving him when she was evidently suffering. and said that he had venturcd to call to t,ii Il ss Christie al out tho great robbery which taken place in the house she had so rec rntiy Visitrd, Den ham Cou"t. She made no commcl until it Was over; then she turn,,; him and asked, with faint expression of relief:
 ''Ihcn nobody was hurt?"
 "Oh. no. there was no coll: I at all! Thcyvanished like spirits, leaving no tracr.'
 'I am very sorry they were not caught. My Eusband-h has been in town since Tuesday morning, und am nerv- ous while he is away said she, like one repeating q lesson.
 All this time Sarah stood by her, smelling bottle in hand, as if prepared for her mistress to faint. Yet to my eyes Mrs. Rayner did not look worse than usual.
 When Mir. Carruthcrs arose to go I accompanied him to the door. but had no chance to communicate my suspi- cions as to thc burglary, for Sarah fol- lowed closely behind To Give vent to my excitement l wrote to Laurence, With Sarah around I could not be too cautious so l contentcd myself with an account of Mir. Carruthcr' visit and the robbery at Dcnham Court. saying in conclusion that it might have some connection with what l had sen. And then 1 said a great deal concerning less important things but much plcasanter to write about. When the p0stman called waited until tho other mail had | been given him and then ran out and | deposited my letter in the bag myself. | 1 was congratulating myself upon hav- | ing outwitted Sarah, who had not seen | the direction on my letter, when 1 saw l her fit after him and take q letter from the bag. ran up just in time to hear her muttcr something about a misdirec- ton. 1 saw her place letter in her pocket which l knew was mine and walked up boldly 10 her.
 "What did ou take my letter out of the bag for Sarah?' said l, half chok- ing with anger.
 l "It's not your letter, miss. What | should 1 want with any letter of yours?' l she said, looking down at me insolent- l lT. "It'S a letter to my sister that I've forgotten to put the number of the street l on."
 1 knew quite well that this was a falschood, but could not prove it, for had indeed been too far off to recog- nize my letter when she put it into her pocket. and my moral certainly count ed for nothing. She knew this and stalkcd off detiantly to the house with my letter, while 1 crept back to the school-room and sobbed bitterly at the | tyranny l was suffering from this hate ful woman.
 There was one comfort, it could not last long. MT. Rayner would soon be home and I would tell him about my discoveries.
 I congratulated myself on having been so cautious in my letter to Lau- renee that Sarah would not learn much by reading it, and wondered when could make an excuse to go to Bcacons- burgh, to post one to him with my owu hands. It seemed very hard to be cut off in this way from the relief of open. ing my heart to him; but it would be all right on the morrow, when Mr. l nay hcl e"A'e t'.'eh-Snne WoViu HOY pafe to annoy me then.
 But the next morning, to my grca disappointment, 1 got another letter saying he should not be back unti
 Monday afternoon. I had written tt him on Wednesday and he had got my note. He said as mentioned that thu weather was bad and the fogs had be
 gun to be thick, it would be better fo CUT FLOWERS!