Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-27
time II d sincs ~ have ,ssp

L knI n.
Rr;ohtansS separation to last, for was too
s.0na rn;eS. the moment to say anything.
| aaoI E;.S have been dead and buried" aha
tuowin~ lit IL fsproaohful smile. without your
did come. thor SSs might indeed. .But you
not?" she added in ronr. s"-r vrr;, uia you
and this time she hushed outrieht in . zone. Sa..
queer and hysterical wa o0"is''i ~ very
conld not t have gone on meaning Of it ALP She
her husband had not been hn.;., ~ AZ. 'a1s
but it was possible that she hsa -. wv LOU,
relative upon that fatal day. '~.'' 0'ner
1t was great relief to me when pn,,sn ,o;,a
us. He looked grayeht .a1 nv usual, but not so
noticed tina. he Was more affectionata .. on ~
| wife even than usual, as though shs - " LIS
need of moral support. We three sat d..
all excellent dinner (where ! had my nronse
allowance Of wineglasses and napkin), ana
| enjoyed it all the more that Bellamy was not
there to patronize me. and convey his pity fo.
| my youth and innocence In bis every action
| but. Of course. l missed him as one misses
other things which one does not regret. II a
dinner in Vigo sqVre without him was not
like Hamlet without the prince, 1t was al least
| like Hamlet without the king. His majestys
absence was most discernible. When the des-
sert had been put on the table and the new
man Withdrawn l could no longer restrain my
curiosity.
"And what" inquired, my dear Mrs Pull.
| 1t was the husband who answered.
Bethany was kicked out" said Mr. Pullen,
'and did it,
Mr.. Pullen swelled perceptibiy with pride at
the mention OF his achievement; still, he was
smallish map, while Bellamy was big one.
and suppose my face expressed surprise as
| well as delight
Don't be hard upon him-I mean upon my
husband, said Mrs. Pullen in q gentle, plead
ing voice. His confidence has been mis-
placed and abused. l know you never liked
Belamy; our sense Of loss, the breaking down
Of our belief in him. will be unintelligible to
you"
looked at my three wineglasses, in doubt rs
| to what reply ought to return; looked at my
| napkin and felt sure in what direction duty
pointed
my opinion of that man, my dear madam,
was very bad one" said
II know it." she answered, quietly; I'VE
should therefore not say anything to you
| against him now. but that we owe it to you to
tell you all. since it is, thanks to you that his
wrong-dolng has been revealed to us.
Thanks 10 me! was glad to hear it; 1T seemed
| very just sort of Nemesis if it happened So
but conld not conceive how it had happened,
and said SO.
Well, my dear husband and 1 had, as you
know, the greatest confidence in Bethany. We
would have lntrusted him with untold gold.
and, In fact, did intrust him with what was its
equivalent, ard 1 am bound to say that we
never missed anythinG-not a silver spoon"
then the man was at least honest" 1 said.
rather disappointed
Not az an she answered quietly. "Hc was
only honest, am afraid. in small Things TO con-
| ceai his knavery in great ones
"Risked sprat to catch a herring" observed
Mr.. Puiien, wuo SO far as proverbs went WAS
quite a solomon.
Eyes. he so imposed upon us that when we
went abroad this summer We left this house for
more than three months entirely in his hands:
never asked any one to look in to see how mat
| tiers were going on. The other servants were
| as much under his control-and, indeed. mucE
more so-as under our own, and we felt quite
secure Everything was forwarded to us will
| the greatest regularity"
"a more methodcal man 1 never knew"
int -polaued AIR. Pullen. He oven sent us
the circulars. Surplusage is no error
Aud when We came back" continued my
hostess, "everytli;ng looked Just as it should
be. Bethany seemed charmed to see US; gave
an excellent character OF the servants. and had
been 80 economical with the Goals tina: we
| wondered how il had been managed
We'll, We might. put il the old gentleman.
for there were more Goals than when We went
away"
Good gracious, how could that be?" I in
| CURED.
".iow, indeed? That was the first thing
Pullen.
So 1t seemed that surplusage was an error.
somehow OF other, l don't know how il
was, but we got the impression that somebody
had been III the houee while we had been away
There more evidence of it than the ex-
istence OF ghost but We couldn. shake our
selves free Of it. Ii they were BelIamy sfriends
We felt tn0t they must have been quite respect
able; but il was not nice to suspect that even
Bellarny friends had been using our house and
sleeping N our beds. was it.'
at certainly was not" assented: sbut why
did you not speak to him on the matter?'
vel. you lie, my husband felt it rather
delicate subject to broach--to Beliamy. And
he tried TO hope for the best, till he met YOU in
the city and you spoke to him of the funeral AT
our house There ought not to have been anv
funeral. you know"
still, they are things you can't help, and
which will occur" remarked
"Yes, yes; but you don't understand. When
you told my husband that he made inquiries OF
the neighbors We have always thought il so
| nice that ones neighbors in London never
| trouble themselves about one, as they do in the
country, but sometimes this works inconve-
| niently. They had seen the funeral and one or
two of them had even been SO good as to pull
down their blinds. thinking it was one of us:
but they had thought no more about it after
| ward on finding that the house was let"
THE house let? Do you mean that your
house was iet?''
Yes, tina, is just how it was. Bellamy had
IAN would have been well for poor Beilamy,"
observed her husband, but for the misfortune
of his tenant-Or. as it should have been, our
tenant-dying, as it were, upon his hands. A
circumstance of that kind, in SO short lease
! never entered into his calculations. There was
| only just time to bury the woman respectablr
and get things into proper order before We got
home. He must have been very much hurried
and put about"
You have had no scrupIe about sending him
IS gaol. l do hope" said. "A man who has
abused your confidence 40 infamously'
Il might have added, land insulted your
guest" for l felt it, deserves no mercy
Mrs Pullcn held up her hands in horror.
Send him to gaol! or course we could never
do that. We have had to part with him. But
we should be sorry indeed if his future should
be wrecked by a single act of-of-"
"Mlscaleulation. murmured her husband.
Just SO. That is why we have invited you,
my dear young friend, here alone, to beg that,
30 long as the revelation can do him any injury,
you will gay nothing to anybody about Bel
lamy's mis-well, his letting our house for US"
CHAPTER Nv.
DETECTION AND SOLUTION.
departed from that dinner in Vigo square
without having said n word abopf po,tv D,,l1o,