, 1891-08-20

appointment. SvenGeIerIs t..
moi arrive. Most vexing. | y,.r
how it is" grumbled Mr.. Greene. .
rtuna thing, though, that the r;r,r u
not likely to come on today"
Not only did the case not come on oil
that day, but a preceding day tail .nI
80 long that it became exceedin. q
likely that 1t would come on ey, {
next day. 1t was still third on the ..st
The next morning Mr.. Greene MT
urally expected to find Svendeleri's let.
tiers awaiting him. To his surprise a.
annoyance, however, they had not ar
rived, nor was there even a note from
Mrs. Greene accounting for their alb
sence.
This is ridiculous" said Mr.. Greene
to himself. 'She might either forward
them or tell me that she can't find them.
I'm astonished at her taking SO little in.
terest in the matter, remembering hat
all this bother is her own brothers
doing"
As Mr.. Greene ate his breakfast, he n,
fected angrily on the absence of any
communication from his wife. Suddenly
1t occurred to him that she might not be
to blame after all. He knew the Way
of railway porters, and it struck him AZ
being within the bounds Of possibility
that the one to whom he gave the tele-
gram might never have sent it. So the
moment he bad finished his breakfast he
walked off to the nearest telegraph office
and wired his wife, asking her if she had
received his first telegram, and if SO why
She had not forwarded ~Svendeleri's let.
tiers, He directed her to send reply t.
him at queens bench court, No. VI
Their he marched off to the law courts.
MIR. Greene sat in court all day, wait.
ing for his case to come on and waiting
for a reply to his telegram. Neither
event happened. AT 4 o'clock the case
Immediately preceding his was Just dis
posed Of, so his stood first for the next
morning. AT the same time the usher
informed him tn no telegram had hat
day arrived for Mr.. Greene, or for any
person bearing a name in the slightest
degree resembling it.
Perturbed in mind Mr.. Greene hur-
ried to his solicitors office in hopes thai
Mrs. Greene might have sent the reply
there. But there he found neither n re-
ply nor the SYendeleri letters. Mr.. Nor
craft, indeed, informed him that the alb
sence of the latter was not of the slight
est Importance to his case-indeed, IL
sci had expressed his opinion tina it
would be very doubtful policy to put
them in. This assurance had, however,
very little effect in consoling Mr.. Greene,
for just then he cared very little where
the letters were or what became of his
action. The only thought which occu-
pied his mind was why Mrs. Greene did
not reply to his telegram. Was it posi-
BILE that she was away from home? If
h was away from home for what pur-
pose was it? Why should she take ad-
vantage of his absence to leave her
house2 Visions of military men came
into his mind, and all his previous wor-
ries and annoyances were as nothing to
the horrors those visions brought with
them. To make assurance doubly sure
Mr.. Greene went straight to a telegraph
station and sent off another message to
his wife. In it he entreated her tn lot
him have an answer of some kind with
out delay. Then he went home to his
hotel and waited there, full of misery
and foreboding, for an answer. He did
not stir out the whole evening, but no
answer came.
The next morning Mr.. Greene rose
haggard and weary. When he opened
his bedroom door to take in his boots he
found a letter awaiting him. With
feverish haste he snatched it up and
looked at the superscription. 1t was in
a feminine hand, but it was not his
wife's. 1t was from his half sister, Rose
Briarl Full of terrible and unutterable
forebodings Mr.. Greene opened the let
ter. His worst fears were realized. The
letter ran as follows:
SSoBroN. Thursday.
My DEAR MISUNDERSTANDING has come to
my knowledge which | think that in fairness
you should know. Yesterday morning | re-
ceived II letter from your wife putting off m
engagement | had to take tea with her this
afternoon As she gave no reason for doing
30, | thought | would call at tho time fixed and
Just sec what was the matter; II she was at
home, | could easily say that | hadn't received
her letter. When l got to the house the SER
want who opened the door aroused my sus-
picions by the way she answered me, so / made
a few Inquiries, and found that your wife has
not been seen by one OF her acquaintance In
Snobton since the day you left home. Worse
still, when | got back ! just looked again at her
letter to me, and then l noticed that, though
1t affects to be written at Snobton, tho post
mark on 1t is Rottenborol You can draw your
own conclusions.
write this as being your half sister, and in
ASItSNCi III htSpllk up II itaItGliDlllly VI Il
family. Yours afrectionhtely, Rose BRIAR-
Mr.. Greene took no breakfast that
morning. He remained in his bedroom
till after 10 o'clock. Then he went out
and drove straight to Mr.. Morcraftis Of
fee.
In very nice time, Mr.. Greene said
that gentleman cheerfully, as he ar
ranged his papers to go over to court.
I'm going home by the IL 1880" was
Mr.. Greene's reply.
The lawyer stared at him In amaze
ment.
well, If you do" he said, Its all up
with your case"
"Confound my case" answered Mr..
Greene with a weak vehemence; sit has
been the plague and ruin of my life.
Settle it, pay the rascal his money, do
anything you like. I'm going home"
The solicitor looked at Mr.. Greene
thoughtfully. He saw his client was in
earnest. After a moments reflection,
he said: well, I'm not sure but settling
would be better than fighting. You see,
Svendeleri is pretty sure to win, but he
doesn't want to be shown up, 80 think,
in order to keep his dirty work private,
he would concede a good deal. Just
come over to court for five minutes, and
We'll see if we cant arrange matters"
Reluctantly Mr.. Greene went over. A
hurried consultation took place between
solicitor and counsel, and then between
the counsel on each side. His lordship
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