nd to it?'

'Be careful what you say, fellow,' said Mr. Grump, turning very red in
the face, 'I'd have you to know that _I_ am the Alderman of this ward!'

'Are you?--then let me tell you,' said the man, contemptuously, 'that
you bear the name of being a mean, dirty old scamp; and if it was not
for fear of the law, I'd give you a d----d good thrashing!'

Alderman Grump beat a hasty retreat while the crowd set up a loud shout
of derision--for he was universally hated and despised.

The Coroner arrived--the inquest was held; and a 'verdict rendered in
accordance with the facts.' The body was taken to the 'Dead House;' and
as no friend or relative appeared to claim it, it was the next day
conveyed to Potter's Field, and there interred among city paupers,
felons and nameless vagrants.

CHAPTER XXVIII

_The Disguised Husband--the False Wife--the Murder--the Disclosure, and
Suicide._

Reader, let thy fancy again wing its flight from New York to our own
city of Boston.

It was a strange coincidence that Frank Sydney and his wife Julia should
tarry again beneath the same roof; yet they were not destined to meet
under that roof--for the next day after Frank made the discovery, Mr.
Hedge and the young lady removed from the Hotel to a splendid house
which had been fitted up for them in the most aristocratic quarter of
the city.

'I must see Julia once again,' said Frank to himself, when informed of
her departure;--'I must see and converse with her again, for I am
anxious to see if she has really reformed, since her marriage with this
Mr. Hedge, whom I have heard spoken of as a very respectable old man. Of
course, he can know nothing of her former character; and if I find her
disposed to be faithful to her present husband, Heaven forbid that I
should ruin her by exposure! But I must so disguise myself that she
shall not recognise me; this I can easily do, for I am well acquainted
with the art of disguise. I shall have no difficulty in meeting her on
some of the fashionable promenades of the city, then my ingenuity will
aid me in forming her acquaintance. My plan shall be put into immediate
execution.'

Our hero felt considerable uneasiness in the knowledge that the Dead Man
was then in the city; and when he reflected that the Doctor had joined
that arch miscreant, he knew not what infernal plot might be concocted
against his liberty or life. He puzzled his brain in vain to account for
the Doctor's singular cond