Here they parted, the stranger having first presented the boy with a liberal remuneration for his services as guide, and made an appointment to meet him on a future occasion. CHAPTER VII _The false wife, and the dishonest servant--scene in the Police Court--capture of the Burglars, and threat of vengeance._ Mr. Francis Sydney and his lady were seated at dinner, in the sumptuously furnished dining parlor of their elegant Broadway mansion. The gentleman looked somewhat pale and ill at ease, but the lady had never looked more superbly beautiful. The table was waited upon by Davis, the butler, a respectable looking man of middle age, and Mr. Sydney, from time to time, glanced furtively from his wife to this man, with a very peculiar expression of countenance. 'My love,' said Mrs. Sydney, after a pause of several minutes--'I have a little favor to ask.' 'You have but to name it, Julia, to ensure it being granted,' was the reply. 'It is this,' said the lady;--'our present footman is a stupid Irishman, clumsy and awkward; and I really wish him to be discharged. And, my dear, I should be delighted to have the place filled by my father's black footman, who is called Nero. He is civil and attentive, and has been in my father's family many years. Let us receive him into our household.' 'Well Julia,' said the husband, 'I will consider on the subject. I should not like to part with our present footman, Dennis, without some reluctance--for though uncouth in his manners, he is an honest fellow, and has served me faithfully for many years. _Honest_ servants are exceedingly scarce now-a-days.' As he uttered these last words, Davis, the butler, cast a sudden and suspicious look upon his master, who appeared to be busily engaged with the contents of his plate, but who in reality was steadfastly regarding him from the corner of his eyes. As soon as dinner was over, the lady retired to her _boudoir_; Davis removed the cloth and Mr. Sydney was left alone. After taking two or three turns up and down the room, he paused before the fireplace and soliloquized thus: