CHAPTER VII.

POLICE AND CRIMINALS.

"OH, Lawrence, what do you think has happened?" exclaimed Lily, one day in early autumn, running to the door, as she heard his familiar ring.

"Perhaps I can guess," he answered, with a sad smile.

"Did papa tell you? I have been waiting so impatiently to ask you about it! To think of mamma being willing to start off in such a hurry, and then to sell the house and furniture! She thinks we had better take the carriage and servants, since ours are beginning to be troublesome, but it is all so strange and sudden, it quite takes away my breath."

He took her hand and led her to the sofa. Then, carefully closing the doors, he seated himself beside her, and said,—

"Don't excite yourself, Lily, and I will tell you why it is necessary that either he or I should go. I would have told you before, only that I hoped the news by yesterday's steamer would have been such that all danger to our firm would be averted. Your father, you know, has had dealings with a large house in Paris for many years. We sold goods for them on commission, and a very profitable business it has been for both. Last month we heard that they were greatly embarrassed, but hoped, in a few weeks, to be relieved by the payment of large sums due them from India. Yesterday the news was so far from encouraging that it becomes necessary for one of the partners to be in Paris at once to prevent immense loss."

Mr. Everett spoke calmly, but with deep seriousness, and Lily, who was closely watching him, said,—

"And was it this which prevented you from sleeping last night, and made you look so very sober?"

"Yes, darling, I cannot deny it. I fear a great crisis is before us."

"Why don't you go yourself then? Papa says he confides greatly in your judgment."

"He proposed it, but he is better acquainted with the business there than I am; and then I could not leave you, Lily. I might be detained six months or a year. We talked it over last night, but it was not fully decided till this morning."

"But why does papa sell his house? He can never get another that he will like so well, and the beautiful furniture that mamma has taken so much pains to select."

He drew her closer to him, as he said, "Because it is certain that our loss will be great, though we hope to save something from the wreck. It is a terrible misfortune that has come upon us, darling. I look to you to help me bear it patiently."

Oh, what a beaming smile she gave him! But he sighed deeply, as he said to himself,—

"Poor child, she little knows the trials before her!"

"If all happens in Paris that you fear, shall we be very poor?" she asked, innocently.

"Yes, Lily; we shall have to leave this beautiful home. I can no longer surround you with luxuries, or buy you freedom from care. I shall have to begin life anew, and how will you endure the change?"

He leaned his head on her shoulder, that brave Christian man, and sighs that not all his trouble had caused, now made his breast heave as he thought of her.

For a moment, the news was overpowering. Lily had, from her birth, been surrounded by every elegance that wealth could create. She could not quite realize what all this change would be. But she was a true wife, and the first thought, after the stunning blow, was pleasure that she had it in her power to comfort her husband. She looked in his face with a smile, though her lips were tremulous and her eyes dewy, and said, softly,—

"But you will have your Lady-bird still, and I can learn to work and help you."

Oh, how he pressed her to his heart, and told her she was worth more to him than a thousand fortunes! How he thanked her for bearing it so nobly!

"You have stolen away my burden," he said again and again. "My greatest fear was for you."

They talked a long time, unmindful of the repeated summons to dinner, and then Lily, who had been trying to comprehend the detail of business, whispered,—

"I read yesterday how the disciples, when they sorrowed, went and told Jesus. I thought it so beautiful! Wouldn't he hear us if we told him now, and asked him to help us do right?"

They knelt together side by side, while the husband poured their sorrows into the ear of a sympathizing Saviour. Then they arose and were comforted.

"Can you spare time to go round through the square with me?" inquired Lily, as they arose from the mere form of eating. "I must be with mamma all I can before she goes."

"Yes, Lily, but before that, I propose Aunt Mercy should come back and help you get rid of the servants. She is a great manager. If I had taken her advice, I should have been some richer than I am now."

"I will write a note asking her."

He nodded assent, and brought her portfolio from the library, waiting with some curiosity to see what she would say. The note began:—

"You will wonder, Aunt Mercy, when you read this. Lawrence and I are no longer rich. We are quite poor. We are to leave this house, but it is not decided where we shall live. Mamma goes with papa to Paris immediately, to try to save some of the money there. Will you come and help me learn to be economical? I cannot be grateful enough that Lawrence has told me all about it, and lets me comfort him. I feel very happy, but Lawrence says it is because I don't realize what is before me. We shall see who is right. Please come as quickly as you can. Your loving niece,

"LILY."

In twenty-four hours after receiving the above, the old lady landed at her nephew's door. She was received with open arms by Lady-bird, who, excepting that she was pale from a headache the previous day, looked bright and cheerful as a May morning.

Presently Lawrence came in with a clouded brow, and, after saluting his aunt with a kiss, exclaimed,—

"There is some rascality in this! Here is another bill from the grocer's. We have never consumed this amount! Aunt Mercy, I wish you had shipped the whole pack when you were here before."

"I don't imagine Tom was overjoyed to see me," she said, quietly. "He scowled when he opened the door."

"We must get rid of them all at once, but take off your bonnet, and we will talk about our arrangements. Mr. and Mrs. Percival sail to-morrow, leaving me to dispose of their house, furniture, horses and carriages, to the best advantage the times will allow. I suppose the whole may bring thirty thousand dollars,—perhaps a third or quarter of what they cost; and that is every cent they will have to live upon, unless our affairs in France terminate more favorably than we dare to expect."

"It's a pity they didn't lay by something against a time of need like the present," remarked the old lady, with her usual frankness.

"Papa was very rich, and he had no idea that French house would fail," urged Lily, earnestly.

"It's a very common thing, child, for riches to take to themselves wings and fly away. But, Lawrence, I hope, when you were in the floodtide of success, you settled something on your wife."

Mr. Everett colored. "No," he answered; "we talked it over, Mr. Percival and I. He said Lily would be the heir to all they were worth; and he thought I had better put my money into the business, where it would yield a large profit. I'm sorry now I didn't do it."

"If you had merely put by what your servants have wasted or dishonestly got rid of, you could have taken out a life-annuity that would have kept her from want. But experience must be bought, and now you've earned it; so we'll leave the past, and talk of the future. Have you intimated to the servants that they must leave?"

"No, but I think they have a suspicion of it."

While they had been talking, Aunt Mercy noticed two or three times a slight noise near the door; and now, without giving any notice of her intention to do so, suddenly threw it open, when Tom, who was leaning against it, fell sprawling into the room.

Darting a cautionary glance toward her nephew, she exclaimed to the discomfited fellow,—

"Oh, Tom you're just the one I want! I wish you'd take my trunk up-stairs; or, wait a minute till I've been up myself."

"I was just going to ask you if I shouldn't carry it there," muttered Tom, in so grieved a tone that Lily, though trying to control herself, nearly laughed aloud.

As the old lady came through the hall on her entrance, she remembered to have seen Ann hurrying up the stairs with a conscious-blush crimsoning her cheeks. Accustomed to watch every expression, she saw that something unusual was going on, and, calling Lily one side, she asked,—

"Have you examined your jewel-box lately?"

"No, but Ann says one of my pearl earrings is missing. I was going to give her the other, as one was useless, but I remembered it was a gift from a schoolmate."

"Have you any idea how many handkerchiefs, laces, or collars you have? I mean could you tell if any were missing?"

Lily arched her eyebrows. She could not imagine to what these questions were tending.

"I don't know," she answered, hesitating, "but Ann can tell."

"Perhaps so. We will ask her presently. Now I want you to stay in the parlor, where you can keep watch of Tom while I speak with Lawrence. Don't let him out of your sight a minute; talk to him if he leaves the hall. I wont be long."

Calling her nephew into the back-parlor, she said, calmly,—

"The servants have found out that they will be dismissed, and are preparing to go. Did you see how guilty Tom looked when discovered listening? Ann, I have no doubt, is up-stairs selecting for her own use articles from her mistress' wardrobe and jewel-box; and I dare say cook is equally export in her department."

Lawrence started angrily toward the door.

"Stop!" said Aunt Mercy, authoritatively. "What are you going to do? If you go out and charge it upon them, you have no proof; and they will escape you. Now hear my plan. I was sure it would come to this, and am only glad I am here now. Send Tom across the street for your friend Mr. Dix. I saw him go in with his night-key when I came. Watch the fellow closely that he goes nowhere else. Ask Mr. Dix to send for a couple of police-officers. You will need two. In the mean time, keep Tom employed under your eye without exciting his suspicion if you can, and take yourself the key to the door. I will go below and see that no one goes out there or comes in till the officers arrive. I have proof enough of their purloining to have their trunks examined."

"I see, I see!" he said. "But poor Lily! I'm afraid the excitement will be too much for her."

"Lily is not such a baby as you think her."