Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-08-12
THE INTRIGUE NEXT DOOR.


next door,"
Mr.. Baldock was standing in his
bedroom one night about IL o'clock,
when he made this emphatic declara-
ton
Never you mind" said Mrs. Bal
dock What do we want troubling
ourselves about other folks affairs?
Can't she have visitors if she likes?"
But | do mind troubling" said Mr..
Baldock. What business has Wis
itor-a man-to be in that house to-
night, in a respectable road like this?
Aha!" he cried again, fattening his
cheek against the wall of his bedroom,
the slender party wall which lay be-
tween him and the corresponding room
next door Its mans voice, as
plain as a pikestaff-a young 'un's,
too, | should say. What's this? |
hear a Woman's voice say darling;
that's all l could catch, but that's
enough. It's most disgraceful, most
horrible" said Mr.. Baldock, moving
away from the tainted wall
William Baldock was a retired but
Ter. He had done very we'll for him
self during his q years service with
rich and rackety old nObleman, who
had died in anything but the Odour
Of sanctity, leaving Baldock an an
nuity of a hundred a year With the
annuity and with his savings the butler
at the age of "a found himself possess
ed of about $50 pounds a year; and
then, to the establishment and disgust
o. his friends, he made a mesalliance
with a parlour maid twenty years his
Junior and retired to Brickwell, a
quiet, respectable London suburb,
there to end his days with dignity, and
easefully.
The retired butler possessed fierce
ly inuuisitive and suspicious mind. He
was always deeply concerned in the
affairs of his neighbors. His ears
were ever open to gossip from any
quarter, and he was ever on the look
out for anything which promised a
suspicion of scandal or the faintest
hope of unearthing an intrigue. But
after five years residence in Brickwell
Mr. Babcock had almost made up his
mind that the jewellers in the quiet
little suburb were either too poor Or
too respectable to mix themselves with
mysteries or plots.
Brickwell proper consisted of half
a-dozen roads, upon which were built
several series of semi-detached villa1
at rentals ranging from % pounds to
40 pounds a year. A common fenced
in the road at one end and the walls
OF a large private park wound their
way around the other end. Mr.. Bal
dock lived in No. 13 Tregorn road,
and he had made it his business early
to find out everything that it was pos
sible to discover concerning every
dweller on the road. He had always
been specially inquisitive about his
semi-detached neighbors had
been several occupants Of the house
next door during Mr.. Baldocks tenancy
of No. 13--but the only mysteries or
plots he had ever been able to dis
.' - we're mysteries concerned with
what the retired butler described as
the ''menage," or plots to starve off
the tax collector.
A new tenant had arrived next door
No lion the LIST of October and
Mr.. Baldock had at once set about dis
covering who and what the family
was. Through the medium of a char
woman he soon ascertained that the
new corners called themselves Hankin-
son and that the family consisted of
husband, wife. and one child, a girl
of about years of age. The gentle
man was a commercial traveller, and
was likely to be from home very fire.
quently.
Mr. Baldock had inspected his new
neighbOrs from a back window and a
front window, and had said: How do
you do?" to the man of the house
a quiet, sour-lOoking sort of a fellow,
as Mr.. Baldock had described him to
his wife, about five and forty.
Pretty hard up, | should think. Wife
seems a nice sort of party-perhaps a
about Is years younger than the us
band"
1t was soon evident to the retired
butler that the party next door was
want was kept there; a charwoman
came daily for half a day.
Toward the end of October Mr.. Bal
dock had learned that Mr.. Hankinson
generally spent three weeks out of
every month ION the road" and one
morning the retired butler saw his
next-door neighbor drive off in a four
wheeler with a portmanteau and some
mysterious brown paper packages.
Mr.. Baldock prided himself in his
gallantry. Whenever he CHANGED to
meet Mrs. Hankinson out of doors
which was very seldom-he had al
ways lifted his hat and bowed most
graciously. He knew instinctively
that Hankinson would not be friendly
and he had no desire to be snubbed
by a low commercial man, so he had
relations between No II and No. 49,
He had a suspicion deep down in his
mind that 1t wasn't all right next
door-but as he observed to lis wife
faint no business of mine, of course,
Marian"
On the evening of the second day
after Mr.. Hankinson had departed or
his journey, Mr.. Baldock fancied he
heard voices in the next house He
was we'll aware of the tenuity of the
party wall-he had often during his