Show HIS LETTERS As the train steamed slowly out of snowton station mr greebe faung him belf into the comer of his compartment with a groan what between this infernal lawsuit and one thing and another he muttered to himself 1 believe im half out of my wits for the hist three days I 1 have been in such a muddled state of mind that I 1 should not be surprised to find that I 1 had forgotten half the necessary papers let me just see now and h opened his handbag and began to examine the documents in it while he is thus engaged the causes of bis perturbation of spirit may be stated in the first place as he himself said he had a lawsuit on hand cause enough in ethelf to make a man uncomfortable this trouble had been brought apon him too by the misconduct of a relative that scapegrace joe mew his cifes brother had by inducing him to back some bills got him into alie clutches of a money lender out of which he was not likely to get without considerable loas this had not unnaturally led to a complete breach between mr greens and joe and a certain coolness between mr green and his wife but even this did not constitute the whole of mr greenaa Gre enea troubles though for the rest he himself was largely to blame he had long been very of mrs greene at one time perhaps the lady gave him some cause for this she had been brought up at Rotten boro the next station to snowton on the line between snowton and london which was a gar town and there eha had seen a good deal of the officers and like most women bad an inordinate admiration mi ration for them after her marriage this admiration continued aud the frequency of her visita to Rotten boro were a constant source of discomfort to mr greene knowing aa she did her husbands suspicious nature mra greene was to gay the least of it not wise in visiting Rotten boro so often yet her conduct would never have led to any actual quarrel but for the intermeddling of an old maiden half sister of mr greenes miss rose briar was one of those ancient scandal bongers mongers who being disappointed in life themselves ara never ao happy as when they are making other people miserable it was her breath that blew mr greenaa Gre enea shouldering ing jealousy into a flame it was she who retailed to him fearfully exaggerated reports of hia cifes doings in Rotten boro and who put a criminal aspect on what was at worst mere thoughtless folly however co much were mr greenes feelings worked upon by miss briar that he at last peremptorily forbade hia wife to go to Rotten boro again without his consent mrs greene at first received this order with a strong show of rebellion but after a time seeing her husband was in earnest she settled down in sulky obedience to it such was the condition of things when mr greene was informed one day by his solicitor that his lawsuit would come on for trial within the next three days in view of the position of affairs mr greene naturally felt uneasy at the prospect of leaving home for several days with no one to look after his wife he resolved therefore to meet the difficulty by taking her to london with him to his amazement however when he proposed this to her she point blank refused to go after trying in vain to persuade her he accordingly had to leave her at home but now let us return to him and hia search over the papers in his handbag ay ay he muttered to himself when he had finished that operation its just aa I 1 expected I 1 have forgotten all letters to joe shendel eri was the money lender and the plaintiff in mr greenes action perhaps I 1 put them in my pocket mr greene brought a number of letters out of his pocket and looked at them no no he said to himself not here but this why some letters maggie gave me to post yesterday and I 1 have never thought of them cinca they are sure not to be of much importance but perhaps id better post ahem at the next station and telegraph to maggie at the same time to forward baters let mo see yes they must still be in my writing table at hoial at the next station mr greene handed a porter the letters and telegram and a shilling and with a mind somewhat relieved he settled down in his seat and tried to divert his attention from his worries and fears by a careful perusal of that days paper when he reached london he left his baggage at the euston notel and drove without delay to his solicitors licit ors office there be was pleased to learn that though his case was in the next days list still as it was last it would probably not come on until the dav following tin glad of that said mr greene to himself it will give maggie time to send on the letters the nest morning to mr greenes disappointment letters did not arrive most lexing texing I 1 condei how it is grumbled mr greens its a fortunate thing though that the case is not likely to come on today not only did the case not come on on that day but a preceding day out 0 o long that it became f i likely that it would come on ev ie nest day it was still third on the at the next morning mr greene orally expected to find leters awaiting him to his surprise aej annoyance however they bad not arrived nor was there even a note from mrs greene accounting for their absence this Is ridiculous said mr greece to himself she might either forward them or tell me that she cant find them fm astonished at her taking so little interest in the matter remembering that all thin bother is her own brotheris brot heri doing As mr greene ate his breakfast he reflected angrily on the absence of any communication from his wife suddenly it occurred to him that she might not be to blame after all knew the ways of railway porters and it struck him aa being within abs tbs bounds of possibility that the one to whom be gave the telegram might never have sent it so the moment he bad finished his breakfast he walked off to tha nearest telegraph office and wired his wife asking hur if she biad received his first telegram and if so why ahe had not forwarded Sven delerio leti he directed her to send reply tc i him at queens bench court no VL 1 then ho in arched off to the law courts mr greene sat in court all day waiting for his case to come on and waiting for a reply to his telegram event happened at 4 the case immediately preceding his was just disposed of BO his ethod jerst for the next morning at the same time the usher ina ormed him ahr no telegram had that day arrived for mr greene or for any person bearing a name in the slightest degree resembling it perturbed in mind mr greene hurried to hia solicitors office in hopes that mrs greene might have seat the reply but there he found neither a re kiy dor me vena een letters mr mor craft indeed informed him that the absence of the latter was not of the slightest importance to indeed conn sel had his opinion that it woul 1 be i ery doubtful policy to put alem in this assurance had however very little effect in consoling mr greene for just then he cared very little where the letters were or what became of his action the only thought which occupied his mind was why mrs greene did not reply to his telegram was possible that she was away from home if she was away from home for v hat pur pose was it should she take advantage of his absence to leave her hoube visions of military men cama into bis mind and all his previous wor nea and annoyances were as to the horrors those visions brought with them to make assurance doubly sui e air greena went straight to a station and sent off another me ia to his wife in it he her to let mm have an answer of some annd with out delay then he went home to his hotel and waited there full of misery and foreboding for an answer he did biot stir out the whole e eang but no aner cime the next morning mr greene rose aygard and weary when he opened his bedroom door to take in his boots lie found a letter awaiting him with hate lie snatched it up and looked at the superscription it was in a feminine hand but it was not lus cifes it was from his liala sister rose bearl full of temble and unutterable forebodings mr greene opened the letter his worst beara w ere realized the letter ran as follows thursday mv hia come to nn knowledge chii h 1 think that in fairness fair nesa you know ct erdi morning I 1 re bened a letter from our wife putting off an en rement 1 lad to take tea with her thia afat anoon As she g ne no reason for to I 1 thought I 1 would all at the time fixed and jest see what the matter if she was at home 1 could easily sav that I 1 receded her letter when I 1 yot to the house the ter vant who opened the door aroused my suspicions by the waa he me bo I 1 made a few inquiries and found that your v ife has dot been seen b one of her acquaintances in snowton since the da you left homo worse baill when I 1 got back I 1 just looked again at her letter tu me and then I 1 noticed that it affects to at the postmark on it 1 vuu can draw your own conclusion I 1 write this as beans lour half sister and interested te in keeping up the of the family ROSE mr greene took no breakfast that morning he remained in his bedroom till after 10 then he went out and drove bt raight to mr Mor crafts office in very nice time mr greene said that gentleman cheerfully as he ar ranged his papers to go over to court 1 I m going home by the 11 30 was mr greenes reply the lawyer stared at him in amazement well if you do he said its all ap with our case confound my case answered mr greane with a weak vehemence it has been the plague and ruin of my life settle it pay the rascal his money do anything you like im going home the solicitor looked at mr greene thoughtfully he saw im client wis in earnest after a moments reflection he paid well m not sure but battling bett ling would be better than you see Sven delen is prett anre to win but he want to be shown rp FO I 1 flunk in order to keep his dirty work private he would concede a good deil just come over to court for five minutes and well see if we can t ananie matters reluctantly mr greene went over A hurried consultation took place between solicitor and counsel and then beaw een the counsel on each side his lordship was a little late in taking his seat but even then terms hid not been settled and counsel asked for a few minutes to eee whether it would be possible to have tha trial both his lordship and mr greece getting impatient when counsel announced that terms had been arranged mi greene ft as to pa hilf Sven delens claim and each party to bear his own costs very favorable terms whispered mr boic aft to mr greene as the lit ter rose to hurry out of the court by cot fighting it you saved a cool thou band mr greene at that moment did not care a farthing whether he had gained or lost all he wanted was to catch ala II 11 30 to snowton Snob ton and all he hoped for was that miss rose abnar would turn out to be mistaken on arriving at snowton mr greene drove first to his half sisters lodgings mis abnar was in she received him ath a face in which an assumption ot borrow and pity only accentuated alie I 1 ir tent look of joy she showed him the letter the postmark was un question i bly Rotten boro come with me said mr greeba if she denies it I 1 U confront her with you with pleasure cried miss abnar and chere was no doubt she spoke the truth when they reached mr greenes house the couple walked into the drawing room in a chair near the center of the room mrs greene was seated looking very pale and worn she rose when her husband entered and gazed at him and miss abnar in a startled half way ao 50 youre back said mr greene in a harsh voice mrs greene cast her eyes down and made no reply where have ou been these last ahrea days demanded her husband sternly TU ru explain harry said mra greene in a weak and hesitating way as soon were alone ashes ashamed to confess before me put in miss briar in an exultant tone mrs greene was a woman of and this taunt roused her blood tm ashamed to confess where I 1 was before nobody she answered hotly and least of all before you whom I 1 de baise but yon know too much about our affairs already and tm re holved that yon shall not have another opportunity of gossiping about them aa far as I 1 can help it but in this case you cant help it sneered miss abnar 1 I happen to know where yon were it was I 1 who told husband yes you have me to thank for that mrs green gazed fiercely at miss abnar for a moment then turning to her husband she said harry will you protect me against this woman 1 where have on been these last three days demanded mr green again without attending to his cifes request 1 I refuse to answer you while she la present mrs greene you be eo particular my dear miss abnar 1 I know al ready where vou were you were at Botten boro la faber exclaimed mrs greene absolutely fale la this her last slander harry where were you then asked mr greene if I 1 must speak I 1 must mrs greene answered 1 I was at bradby attending on poor joe he wrote to mo last week that he was ill and when you went to town I 1 ran over to see him he was so ill I 1 stav ed to nurse him but he grew worse and worse until getil last night the poor boy and here mrs greene flung herself bade into her chair and covering her face burst aiato iato a flood of tears pie stood abnot lest ia 1 wilderment and shame but miss briar retained at once her and her boldness ah ah a very nice naief the eald with a amile bat how did it happen mrs greene if you were at baxby that conr letters came from Rotten boro they did not cried mrs greene fir ins up again at the sound of mis briar voice just look at thail and miss briar handed mrs greene the letter with the I 1 postmark on it i that thail cried mrs greene looking startled and confused yes pray explain said miss briar smiling in triumph why that exclaimed mrs greene while a flash of intelligence passed over her face why that is one of the letters 1 gave you to post harry mr greene was in turn startled ajsa took the letter from his wife and looked at the postmark again true enough tt waa posted on the ad dinst the day be left for london it must be one of the letters which he gave the porter to post at Rotten boro station how it gut posted at Rotten boro I 1 dont know said mrs greene all I 1 know ia that 1 gave it to you to post about a week ago 1 1 forgot to post choso letters faltered mr greene until I 1 found them in my pocket when I 1 was going to town 1 gave them to a porter at Rotten boro station to post for me As he said this mr greene felt very like a fool and also very mad at himself for being one ah ejaculated misa briar contemptuously yon are always trying to screen your wife you angold be ashamed of yourself look here rose briard cried amri greene delighted to fiad some oa to vent his vexation on you have been the curse of my life since I 1 married arid I 1 intend to have KO more of you but fot your ele interference and insidious meddling all this folly would not have leave me leave as and let us see your face again turning to bis wife mr greene bald d a broken voice can yon m maggie 1 I can forgive anything was the reply now he is gone tree flag |