The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-08-05


ed into her presence, looking SO nerv-
Gus that she was startled.
Oswald, what can be the natter"
Dear Aunt, am going to give you |
a shock"
Don't tell me that you have turned
Romanist!"
The hot blood rushed to his temples |
He Romanist! The suggested posi-
bility thrilled him through and through
with emotions he could not define.
What put that into your head Aunt
Helen?"
"You yourself. You are always on
the defensive where Rome is concern
ed. Tell me the worst at once
what have to tell does not relate
to myself but to Miss Mercer"
ooh! Have the Jesuits got her?"
cried Mrs. Powyl, quiyering with ex-
element.
mo, but the police have her!'
WHAT" almost shrieked Aunt
Helen.
'tShe isn't nun at all, but an i'm
poster, as I suspected from the first"
Mrs. Powyl was reduced to speech
lessness, and could only fix her eyes,
living notes of interrogation, on her
nephew.
MRS. Mercer and her daughter
who is, by the bye, her son-are
among the cleverest criminals in the
country said Oswald THE son is
known in police and criminal circles
as Pretty Jane because of his eff
Terminate appearance and his skill in
| impersonating a woman. The pair
1 have been giving their attention to
country houses lately. 1t was Pretty
Jane who burgled Mr.. Hempseed's
dwelling; and / conjecture that the
same person failed in an attempt to
break into this, and so hit on a more
ingenious plan to secure your famous
diamonds"
it," said Aunt Helen, from the depths
of humiliation and wrath. To have
been so befooled, so played upon!
He waited in silence until she had
recovered sufficiently to ask:
How was all this found out?''
We'll, from the first I had my
doubts. The convent story was fc-
ton, on the face of it. So communi-
Gated with detective. He has been
residing at the Crown Hotel for the
last few days. He suggested that
Miss Mercer might be Pretty Jane;
but, owing to her habit of never ap-
pearing without a veil and a respira-
tor, it was difficult to identify her;
and Mrs. Mercer had altered herself
out of recognition with stained skin
and white wig. My acquaintance with
historical romance came to the rescue.
l remembered how Prince Charles
Edward, when disguised as Flora
Macdonald's maid, nearly betrayed
himself by the awkwardness with
which he managed his skirts when
crossing steam. When | pur-
poseIy upset the fiower-bowl in
your visitors path yesterday, was
particularly observant of Miss Mer-
GER He raised his skirt gracefully
enough in order to avoid trailing it
through the food, but thereby revealed
a pair of feet that never yet belonged
to a woman. So telephoned to my de-
tective, and he got reinforcements, and
raided the cottage. Part of Mr. Hemp
seeds property was found there, and
the precious pair are now in the only
sort of cells they are familiar with.
Don't cry, dear Aunt Helen! It really
is something to laugh at
But Aunt Helen had received a
wound, shock, and was confined to
bed for several days in consequence.
Then Oswald prescribed change of air
and scene
Come home with me- he said. "I'll
introduce you to real nun, and you
will Danish the sham one from your
thoughts"
Mrs. Powyl tearfully consented, anx-
ious to turn her back for time on the
scene of SO much notification
It was a great day when she visited
the orphan asylum with Oswald, and
made the acquaintance of his former
patient. Sister Lucy, whose once pref
ty face bore the lasting scars of hero
ism. From the nursery, where the
youngest toddlers played with Sis.
ter's Rosary and chung to her blue-grey
t habit; to the classrooms, where other
Sisters taught the blind; the deaf, and
: the dumb; to the infirmary, where a
Sister tended the ailing ones; to the
chapel, with it's mysterious hush, its
fragrance, it's solemn beauty-Aunt
Helen travelled, swallowing success
sion of Jumps in her throat as she
went.
II understand what you feel when
nuns are attacked, Oswald" was her
only comment afterward, but 1t meant
great deal.
When DR.. Powyl was received into
the Church, his friends told him that
Aunt Helen would certainly shut her
doors against him and strike his name
out of her will But she did neither
In addition to providing for him, she
largo c1Iro tn tho CicforboCd RI