r.

"Wait one moment," said I. "I may not have another opportunity to
mention it. Mrs. Belden received two letters from the postmaster
yesterday; one in a large and one in a small envelope; if you could find
out where they were postmarked----"

Q put his hand in his pocket. "I think I will not have to go far to
find out where one of them came from. Good George, I have lost it!" And
before I knew it, he had returned up-stairs.

That moment I heard the gate click.

XXXI. "THEREBY HANGS A TALE."

--Taming of the Shrew.

"IT was all a hoax; nobody was ill; I have been imposed upon, meanly
imposed upon!" And Mrs. Belden, flushed and panting, entered the room
where I was, and proceeded to take off her bonnet; but whilst doing so
paused, and suddenly exclaimed: "What is the matter? How you look at me!
Has anything happened?"

"Something very serious has occurred," I replied; "you have been gone
but a little while, but in that time a discovery has been made--" I
purposely paused here that the suspense might elicit from her some
betrayal; but, though she turned pale, she manifested less emotion than
I expected, and I went on--"which is likely to produce very important
consequences."

To my surprise she burst violently into tears. "I knew it, I knew it!"
she murmured. "I always said it would be impossible to keep it secret
if I let anybody into the house; she is so restless. But I forget," she
suddenly said, with a frightened look; "you haven't told me what the
discovery was. Perhaps it isn't what I thought; perhaps----"

I did not hesitate to interrupt her. "Mrs. Belden," I said, "I shall not
try to mitigate the blow. A woman who, in the face of the most urgent
call from law and justice, can receive into her house and harbor there a
witness of such importance as Hannah, cannot stand in need of any great
preparation for hearing that her efforts, have been too successful, that
she has accomplished her design of suppressing valuable testimony, that
law and justice are outraged, and that the innocent woman whom this
girl's evidence might have saved stands for ever compromised in the eyes
of the world, if not in those of the officers of the law."

Her eyes, which had never left me during this address, flashed wide with
dismay.

"What do you mean?" she cried. "I have intended no wrong; I have only
tried to save people. I--I--But who are you? What have you got to do
with all this? What is it to you what I do or