does pork.
And yet those children think Heaven means ham and molasses three times
a day."

"You have had no news at all?" Miss Fleming said cautiously, her head
bent over her work.

"None," I returned, under cover of the table linen to which Miss
Letitia's mind had veered. "I have a good man working on it." As she
glanced at me questioningly, "It needed a detective, Miss Fleming."
Evidently another day without news had lessened her distrust of the
police, for she nodded acquiescence and went on with her sewing. Miss
Letitia's monotonous monologue went on, and I gave it such attention as
I might. For the lamps had been lighted, and with every movement of the
girl across, I could see the gleaming of a diamond on her engagement
finger.

"If I didn't watch her, Jane would ruin them," said Miss Letitia. "She
gives 'em apples when they keep their faces clean, and the bills for
soap have gone up double. Soap once a day's enough for a colored child.
Do you smell anything burning, Knox?"

I sniffed and lied, whereupon Miss Letitia swept her black silk, her
colored orphans and her majestic presence out of the room. As the door
closed, Miss Fleming put down her sewing and rose. For the first time I
saw how weary she looked.

"I do not dare to tell them, Mr. Knox," she said. "They are old, and
they hate him anyhow. I couldn't sleep last night. Suppose he should
have gone back, and found the house closed!"

"He would telephone here at once, wouldn't he?" I suggested.

"I suppose so, yes." She took up her sewing from the chair with a sigh.
"But I'm afraid he won't come--not soon. I have hemmed tea towels for
Aunt Letitia to-day until I am frantic, and all day I have been
wondering over something you said yesterday. You said, you remember,
that you were not a detective, that some men could take nineteen from
thirty-five and leave nothing. What did you mean?"

I was speechless for a moment.

"The fact is--I--you see," I blundered, "it was a--merely a figure of
speech, a--speech of figures is more accurate,--" And then dinner was
announced and I was saved. But although she said little or nothing
during the meal, I caught her looking across at me once or twice in a
bewildered, puzzled fashion. I could fairly see her revolving my
detestable figures in her mind.

Miss Letitia presided over the table in garrulous majesty. The two old
ladies picked at their food, and Miss Jane had a spot of pink in each
withered cheek. Margery