The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-07-26

the silly sisterhood into the incurable class.
Suppose she Toes keep her mouth shut;
that's her business 30 long as she does my
business. and I'm not going to let her have
more trouble for doing i p &c ysll!'
sounded from the front Of the deek.
Back again?' he was saying. Well,
better late than never. Here's a foreign
registered package for you. I had to
garrote the carrier in order to get it from
and the delighted tenantiy are crying for
you-'
l craned about the corner Of the safe.
Miss Ruthven was walking toward her
her face. In her hand was a long. bulgy
blue envelope. p~lenteously splashed with
red wax. such as I have often seen coming
from the office Of an English solicitor.
II.
A rough and ready law unto himself was
Mr.. Flewoome. necessitating a second per-
sonal tribunal Of the appellate sort, equally
rough and ready. for the correction Of the
errors of the first one. ! recollect once
seeing him spring over the office rail and
nearly throttle the life out OF a poor waiter
who had dared cross forbidden precincts
with his tray. I recollect too that this
same waiter was walking on air. though
with a wry neck. for weeks afterward on
account OF the lavish recompense fairly
stuffed on him for this violence.
1t was characteristic of Mr.. Flewoome
to send the baby upstairs to his wan wife.
He wanted 1t cared for temporarily-she was
there-there was plenty Of room-why not?
The thought of whether or not Mrs. Flew
come might relish this charge eve entered
his head. Indeed I doubt il he had had any
tLe.,cLt - ko~ co. n yaa- or - ,,ptn n1u
when she became to a degree available.
Not that he was positively unkind. He
had simply left his wife far behind in the
chase for fortune. Many a woman La thus
cached. we'll provisioned. by some daring
adventurer Of a husband, to whom she
thereafter becomes q negligible quantity.
Now. a human quantity. TO be safely negli-
gible, should be unable to brood.
The other things too limited at by Katie,
which had cast willing suspicion on Mas
Ruthven. came gradually to my knowledge.
you know. Mr.. Sniifen.' said Mrs. Bill
boes that evening, that / saw her. posi-
lively ! passed her on the street not a block
away that very night when I was coming
from the sta tion with lear George. And
according to her story. her. " story.
mind. when she started on that precious
vacation Of hers, she should have been up
in the Maine woods-woods. indeed; l guess
it's high time that we all came out OF the
woods and began to look around
Mrs. Bilboes was a puffy faced widow
who had won q fearful status Of importance
at the hotel through the prolonged absence
Of her only son George. Now George had
returned. bringing q trace OF jungle fever
with him, and she WAS quite set III as an
oracle in consequence OF this new woe.
Nor was his all; there never is any end
to 1t when lovely woman stoops 70 tattle.
1t was whispered that Mrs: Flewoome
had made O discovery-found something
tangible, discriminatory. damning among
said, as she had, that Miss Ruthven must
explain a thing or two to her when she
got good and ready to confront her there
was ample warrant for her saying 30.
And so both innuendo and accusation
were flashing their forked tongues In the
Tawdrey House, while Miss Ruthven alone
went about her business ignorant even
that there wal electricity in the air,
Another storm was bre~wing-that great
storm Of the summer that whipped down
the wires, flooded the streets and marooned
many q centre Of city life. Az ] sat In
my front room after dinner that evening
with, something Of the calm %intentness Of
a lighthouse keeper there was a rap on the
door and Miss Ruthven entered with the
wax besplashed registered package In her
hand.
"You have 30 often and 30 kindly offered
to serve me, Mr.. Sniffeh,' she began. that
I venture to ask you to attend confdentially
to this for me-"
this proved to he a London draft for
Fifty thousand pounds. payable to Helen
Ruthven, and she wished II reduced TO
current funds and the proceeds deposited