paused with his foot on the
step and eyed her dumbly.

"Have you left anything inside that you want?" she inquired.

[Illustration: "'Have you left anything inside that you want?' she
inquired."]

Mr. Boxer shook his head. "I only wanted to come in and make a clean
breast of it," he said, in a curious voice; "then I'll go."

Mrs. Gimpson stood aside to let him pass, and Mr. Thompson, not to be
denied, followed close behind with his faintly protesting wife. They sat
down in a row against the wall, and Mr. Boxer, sitting opposite in a
hang-dog fashion, eyed them with scornful wrath.

"Well?" said Mrs. Boxer, at last.

"All that he said was quite true," said her husband, defiantly. "The
only thing is, he didn't tell the arf of it. Altogether, I married three
dusky maidens."

Everybody but Mr. Thompson shuddered with horror.

"Then I married a white girl in Australia," pursued Mr. Boxer, musingly.
"I wonder old Silver didn't see that in the bowl; not arf a fortune-
teller, I call 'im."

"What they see in 'im!" whispered the astounded Mr. Thompson to his wife.

"And did you marry the beautiful girl in the photograph?" demanded Mrs.
Boxer, in trembling accents.

"I did," said her husband.

"Hussy," cried Mrs. Boxer.

"I married her," said Mr. Boxer, considering--"I married her at
Camberwell, in eighteen ninety-three."

"Eighteen ninety-three!" said his wife, in a startled voice. "But you
couldn't. Why, you didn't marry me till eighteen ninety-four."

"What's that got to do with it?" inquired the monster, calmly.

Mrs. Boxer, pale as ashes, rose from her seat and stood gazing at him
with horror-struck eyes, trying in vain to speak.

"You villain!" cried Mrs. Gimpson, violently. "I always distrusted you."

[Illustration: "'You villain!' cried Mrs. Gimpson, violently. 'I always
distrusted you.'"]

"I know you did," said Mr. Boxer, calmly. "You've been committing
bigamy," cried Mrs. Gimpson.

"Over and over agin," assented Mr. Boxer, cheerfully. "It's got to be a
'obby with me."

"Was the first wife alive when you married my daughter?" demanded Mrs.
Gimpson.

"Alive?" said Mr. Boxer. "O' course she was. She's alive now--bless
her."

He leaned back in his chair and regarded with intense satisfaction the
horrified faces of the group in front.

"You--you'll go to jail for this," cried Mrs. Gimpson, breathlessly.
"What is your first wife's address?"

"I decline to answer that question,"