The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-10-16
Br Y auAp


Ny mistress in Gainsboro road had lost
Is note IN the house. ard the thief was
tie parior maid. I knes IL from her ae-
tons. and three months after I left the
house she was caught in q similar Of
Tense and owned up to the first theft
However. the crime was laid of on me,
and because I made indignant and per-
haps inpudent protest I was flung oct OF
the house at half an hours notice and re-
fused a character. was idle for the next
three months. TIE first thing demanded
when applied for place was charac-
ter. As soon as II was learned that l had
none IL was useless to talk further. IL
was for this reason that / finally paid
fee 10 an intelligence Office In Margate
street and was at length sent for to take
a place at general Homework. 1t was an
old man named Dyson who wanted me.
He was willing 10 take me without a
character. because he would have to pay
less wages, and because, as he grsmly as
serted, there was nothing lying around
loose In HIS house for one TO steal AS we
sat face 10 face / sized him up as mean
and penurious but j did not see any evil
in him. He had an aged and infirm wife.
he told me, and I would be the only SER
want.
1t was not for me TO pick and choose.
must have place and hold Il long enough
to get a character again. went with him
miles and miles out on the Holborne road,
and We at last arrived at the cheaply
built and cheap looking cottage he oc-
oupie1. IL was a place devoid Of almost
all eonvenlenees and had been selected
for its cheap rent. / found the Old wife
deaf, almost blind. and palsied. and 1t
was apparent that she had no care what
ever. She had become childish and petu-
liant, and before / had been in the house
half an hour Mr.. Dyson whipped her with
a strap for saying that she was hungry.
AS he whipped her saw him look at her
in way to give me chill. In the course
of three or four days / made up my mini
that he regarded her with detestation and
adherence and was hourly hoping for
her death. / wondered that he had not
pushed her down stairs or found other
means to bring about an accidental
death, but the old man was full of craft
and cowardice. l soon had evidence that
he was in love with a widow in the neigh
borho0e, or at least he desired to be free
so that he could marry her The man
|, had no occupation and seldom left the
house During my first two weeks in the
place he never allowed me 70 see the wife
except In his presence and found fault
If cooked anything extra for her or ex-
pressed my sympathy. He had a way Of
whispering to himself. and dozen times
over ! heard him say:
1--WE waited for five years. but I won't
wait much longer. I'll get rid CT her and
be happy"
My natural impulse on finding out how
he felt toward his wife was to fly the
house. but l have explained how I was
situated. And too. soon got the feeling
that / ought to stay TO protect the poor
old woman. / figured 1t out that, while he
m ght thirst for her death. he would not
proceed to extremities while | was in the
house. 1t seemed as If he would have
lived on alone, as he had done for the
last two months. if he meditated anything
OF that sort l didn't know the depth of
his craft, however. He had brought me
there to work her death through me. The
first thing l suspicioned this way was one
morning when he asked me to help her
down stairs. The stairs were steep and
shaky, and he had pried one OF the steps
loose that il might slide from under our
feet AS a matter Of fact. 1t did give way,
but / caught myself and saved the wo-
man w nen ola Tyson saw me ldlIufe OF
his plot, he looked ehagrined and savage.
and presently found excuse for cutting the
poor wife's ears.
In the course Of couple Of weeks he
declared that the cellar was full of rats
and gave me money and commanded me
to buy arsenic. He recommended me to
go to a store miles away, and to say that
wanted it for my complexion and to
II -af1f m nplIcr
store only two blocks away and gave his
name, and when he discovered this he was
highly indignant for a day. end l rather
expected to be thrown out. However, IN
the course of thee or four more days ne
developed another plan. After coaching
the old wife, he left me alone with her for
the first time. and she begged me TO get
her some laudanum for toothache and rot
mention the matter TO him. 1t was easy