The evening times., 1898-05-30
4 CASE or BLACKNAIL.

Tnen. suppose j must, SAID Nj
Bles.: .'show her up He took piece
of paper that looked like theatrical pro-
gram and seemed to give an air Of friv-
olity to the papers on his table, and drop
ped It into the waste-paper basket; his
| nephew saw him do it. and said in q tone
| Of remonstrance:
"Uncle. can't you Gomez
| Cant you see I'm busy?" said Mr.,
i Blest. SHOW the woman up. and tell hel
i to be quick. IL she can"
A minute later young lady came In
| smiling, with a very small hand held out
incased apparently in a still smaller
| glove.
| you have forgotten me-" she laughed
as he bowed stifny. Mrs. Smythe-Maude
| Uttersen."
Dear me-" said Mr.. Biest, $50 1t is."
The small hand rose and hOvered some
! where above his shoulder as he caught
its finger-tips in his bony old claw.
| "Well," she exclaimed, ITS three years
/ since you've seen me, and then had just
come of age. and you only saw me when
/ you gave me away: of course. no one
looks ON her wedding day like she does
| afterward."
"You are looking very we'll"
Thank you; was afraid / was grow
ing thin," she said. pinching her arm
critically. II am very unhappy; that is
why came to see you"
Indeed" said Mr.. Blest. you pain
me extremely-your husband
"Its not quite come to that; but 1t will
| soon. II you can't help me. Look here.
Mr.. Blest, feel 1 have known you since
| was a little girl, because you used to
send me postofiice orders for pocket mon
| ey, with typewriter letters to ask II they
were kind to me at school. Just as II
vx<,tv
| "Ah. 1 never thought of that" said Mr..
Blest.
And then you tied up my wretched lit
tie s5,000 in a marriage settlement, so
| that 1 get. nothing a year and have to
buy all my clothes out OF f-and now II
you will only not interrupt me I think
can tell you everything"
in the battered easy chair. extending a
pair of pointed little patent leather boots
to the gas fire in the CRATE.
mot bad for a country parsons wife.
eh?' she said. following the direction Of
his eyes. Its my hats, though. that
they talk about most down there; you
can't show your boots very well In a
pew"
As he had been asked not to interrupt
he said nothing. while she arranged her
left sleeve and pulled down the right
hand corner of her veil.
.'It Is hard on me-" she went on with
a sigh, because 1 truly don't deserve tt;
but 1t is like this. Years ago before I
married knew a captain-his name does
not matter. call him"
Doe" suggested Mr.. Blest.
Sounds rather like baker: well, never
mind. Captain Dough and / were great
pals; friends. you know, nothing more:
and he went away to India. and wrote
him Extraordinarily"
Mr.. Blest bowed.
'I thought myself rather more than Just
a pal, then, you know; was only eigh-
teen, and my letters said good deal. I
fancy. I should not write like that now
to anyone. However, / suppose he liked
them. and kept them. Never keep a let
ter from a woman. Mr.. Blest: perhaps you
never did. lawyers are SO careful Well,
he is dead now, poor fellow! He died In
India, and his servant OF somebody must
have stolen all my poor little scrawls.
and just listen to the letter / received a
fortnight ago: I'll read II to you:
Madam: We are instructed by clt-
ent to offer you for sale certain letters
late of the-never mind the regiment).
| Kindly let us know if you would care to
| purchase them for thousand pounds
cash, or whether your husband would pos
sibly be likely to desire them. 1t seems
a pity that documents so interesting
to your family should fall into other
hands. Faithfully yours,
JAMES HEDGETER-'
He calls himself an autograph dealer.
There!-a thousand pounds
Dear me-" said Mr.. Blest. How
many letters are there?"
Only four that matter. I wrote one
afterward to say that was engaged, and
another after 1 was married: quite for
NAL; there was nothing in either of
them"
Then" said Mr.. Blest "if what you
tell me is correct Che coughed apologet-
ically as the phrase slipped from his
lips), Il cannot see how your husband
can reasonably be made jealous
''Of course: just what / thought" SAID
| Mrs. Smythe, tapping her foot on the fen
der impatiently; 'and I wrote and said
so; and they wrote back to say that II
wanted particulars of the letters, they
were undated-just as If one went poking
about in almanacs before writing letters
and that If / wanted extracts they
would inclose some. They did so. and
burned them, and l haven't slept since. -
but they are undated" said Mr.. Blest
sill cheerfully and consolatory.
She shook her head. "They also said
that two were in envelopes with post
marks. They told me the dates-one just
before, one just after, l was married"
Dear me- said the o.d solicitor, look
| ing grave. Then they have put two
early letters into envelopes that contain
ed harmless ones. merely saying good
by"
Il thought you would begin to under
stand soon.' said his client.
you must tell your husband every
thing, of course" began Mr.. Blest
She stood up. looking sorrowful but
firm. "Mr. Blest. cannot positively.
Dear William is a good husband, and
love him very much: but he is a clergy
man, and he does not understand. I'm
afraid he has been rather cross with me
once or twice when other men have lik-
ed to come and see me and-that sort OF
thing. This will be the last straw; you
see. have never said word about
Capt.
Doe" said the old solicitor quickly.
THAT seems pity. and the letters. are
they very Mr.. Blest coughed be-
hind his hand.
NO" she said, shortly, getting a little
pink about the cheeks They are not
very-anything. In the extract they state
IEI-well, he used to kiss me sometimes
-her cheeks got pinker still for a moment
land reminded him Of It"
Mr.. Blest shook his head. IF we only
confront the scoundrel with you both, and
tell him you are determined to fight him
Ito prosecute him if necessary"
Put We can't" she said. ''and you must
think OF something else"
"I will do what can," he said, taking
her by the hand AT any rate. will get
into communication with this man He'd
geter. and gain time.''
When she had gone he rang his bell.
and sent for the articled clerk who had
brought in Mr.. smythe. yes. uncle" he
said. He was a healthy-lookfng youth.
The O1AU that had adnYnQd nhn he