“_Deer Wart: my laddy mother has come for me & i have had to go with hur. i have gorn into a brighter wurld. soe yon needent hunt for me corse i shant ever be found, with love Rissy.”_ “She’s dead,” squalled the husband, staggering to his feet. “She’s jumped into the water somewhere. You know ev’rything, Squire.7 You’re the only friend I’ve truly got to find her for me.” He seized the lawyer by the arm and tried to drag him away. “Sit down, I tell you!” commanded the Squire, and again he thrust the young man down into the chair. He read the letter again. “Have you shown this to anyone else?” he demanded. “No, not to a soul. I’ve run right to you, Squire. I know you can find her, but she’s dead. Oh, where has she gone?” “She may have gone straight up or she may have gone straight down,” growled the lawyer. “What are you sitting there gaping and goggling like that for? When did she go? When did you miss her? Did she take her clothes?” “I woke up this morning and found her gone,” wailed the youth. “She went in the night. She’s dead. She’s gone with her lady mother jest as she said she’d do.” “If you ever say lady mother to me again I’ll cuff your ears,” stormed the Squire. “Or if you mention this to anyone until I give you permission I’ll boot you clear to Brickett’s store and back again. Do you think you understand that?” “Yes,” whimpered the youth. “Not to a soul! Finding your wife depends on it.” “Can’t I go drag in the Potter brook?” “You stay here in this house. You are going to eat some of this breakfast first of all.” “I never can eat nothin’ more till she’s found,” wailed Mayo, with a canine whine in his nose. But when the meal was on the table the Squire hustled him to a chair beside it and roared at him until he ate. “It will never do for me to say one word of sympathy to the poor devil,” he pondered as he eyed the pitiful creature munching his food. “If I loosen one bit he’ll be climbing all over me like a hungry dog. The only way to handle him is to cuff him when he stands up on his hind legs.” While the Squire ate he pondered. “She went with Cap Nymphus Bodfish on the packet, that’s how she went.” He glanced at the clock. “Eight,” he mused. “Half the time since he has put in his auxiliary power Bodfish doesn’t sail until nine. If he got away early this morning it signifies something, that’s all! It isn’t the first time King Bradish has hired him for dirty work.” He started up and took his hat from the hook. “Wat,” he said, “you stay here and wash up my dishes and make yourself useful until I come back. Don’t you stir out of this house and don’t you say a word to anyone about your wife being gone. If you disobey me I’ll quit you.” He hurried out of the house and down the street.