Mr. Jerry read aloud from the _Star_ Mr.
Wix's _aliases_, Aunt M'riar had had no report of this escaped convict,
except under the name of Davenant; and, indeed, very little under that,
because Uncle Mo, in narrating to her the man's visit to Sapps Court,
though he gave the name of his inquiry as Davenant, spoke of the man
himself almost exclusively as Devilskin. And really she had paid very
little attention to the story, or the names given. At the time of the
man's appearance in the Court nothing transpired to make her associate
him with any past experience of her own. He was talked about at dinner
on that Sunday certainly; but then, consider the responsibilities of the
carving and distribution of that shoulder of mutton.

Aunt M'riar did not give the newspaper to Mrs. Burr, to read to Mrs.
Prichard, till next day. Perhaps it was too late, at near eleven
o'clock. When she did, it was with a reservation. Said she to Mrs.
Burr:--"You won't mind losing the bit I cut out, just to keep for the
address?--the cheapest shoes I ever did!--and an easy walk just out of
Oxford Street." She added that Dave was very badly off in this respect.
But she said nothing about what was on the other side of the shoe-shop
advertisement. Was she bound to do so? Surely one side of a
newspaper-cutting justifies the scissors. If Aunt M'riar could want one
side, ever so little, was she under any obligation to know anything
about the other side?

Anyhow, the result was that old Mrs. Prichard lost this opportunity of
knowing that her son was at large. And even if the paragraph had not
been removed, its small type might have kept her old eyes at bay.
Indeed, Mrs. Burr's testimony went to show that the old lady's
inspection of the paper scarcely amounted to solid perusal. Said she,
accepting the _Star_ from Aunt M'riar next morning, apropos of the
withdrawn paragraph: "That won't be any denial to Mrs. Prichard, ma'am.
There's a-many always wants to read the bit that's tore off, showin' a
contradictious temper like. But she ain't that sort, being more by way
of looking at the paper than studying of its contents." Mrs. Burr then
preached a short homily on the waste of time involved in a close
analysis of the daily press, such as would enable the reader to
discriminate between each day's issue and the next. For her part the
news ran similar one day with another, without, however, blunting her
interest in human affairs. She imputed an analogous attitude o