ife. I nodded again.

"Do you see any objection, dear, to obliging the sergeant with a sight
of the books?" says her husband.

"None in the world, love, if you approve of it," says the wife.

All this while poor Mr. Yatman sat looking the picture of astonishment
and distress, quite out of place at our polite conference. The books
were brought, and one minute's look at the pages in which Mrs. Yatman's
name figured was enough, and more than enough, to prove the truth of
every word that I had spoken.

There, in one book, was the husband's account which Mr. Yatman had
settled; and there, in the other, was the private account, crossed off
also, the date of settlement being the very day after the loss of the
cash-box. This said private account amounted to the sum of a hundred and
seventy-five pounds, odd shillings, and it extended over a period of
three years. Not a single installment had been paid on it. Under the
last line was an entry to this effect: "Written to for the third time,
June 23d." I pointed to it, and asked the milliner if that meant "last
June." Yes, it did mean last June; and she now deeply regretted to say
that it had been accompanied by a threat of legal proceedings.

"I thought you gave good customers more than three years' credit?" says
I.

The milliner looks at Mr. Yatman, and whispers to me, "Not when a lady's
husband gets into difficulties."

She pointed to the account as she spoke. The entries after the time when
Mr. Yatman's circumstances became involved were just as extravagant for
a person in his wife's situation, as the entries for the year before
that period. If the lady had economized in other things, she had
certainly not economized in the matter of dress.

There was nothing left now but to examine the cash-book, for form's
sake. The money had been paid in notes, the amounts and numbers of which
exactly tallied with the figures set down in my list.

After that, I thought it best to get Mr. Yatman out of the house
immediately. He was in such a pitiable condition that I called a cab
and accompanied him home in it. At first he cried and raved like a
child; but I soon quieted him; and I must add, to his credit, that he
made me a most handsome apology for his language as the cab drew up at
his house door. In return, I tried to give him some advice about how to
set matters right for the future with his wife. He paid very little
attention to me, and went up stairs muttering to himself about