"Oh, I wouldn't go as far as that," stammered Jimmy.

"Oh, wouldn't you?" cried Alfred, again turning so abruptly that Jimmy

caught his breath. Each word of Jimmy's was apparently goading him on to

greater anger.

"Now don't get hasty," Jimmy almost pleaded. "The whole thing is no

doubt perfectly innocent. Talk to her gently. Win her confidence. Get

her to tell you the truth."

"The truth!" shouted Alfred in derision. "Zoie! The truth!"

Jimmy feared that his young friend might actually become violent. Alfred

bore down upon him like a maniac.

Advertisement..

"The truth!" he repeated wildly. "She wouldn't know the truth if she saw

it under a microscope. She's the most unconscionable little liar that

ever lured a man to the altar."

Jimmy rolled his round eyes with feigned incredulity.

"I found it out before we'd been married a month," continued Alfred.

"She used to sit evenings facing the clock. I sat with my back to it.

I used to ask her the time. Invariably she would lie half an hour,

backward or forward, just for practice. THAT was the BEGINNING. Here,

listen to some of these," he added, as he drew half a dozen telegrams

from his inner pocket, and motioned Jimmy to sit at the opposite side of

the table.

Jimmy would have preferred to stand, but it was not a propitious time to

consult his own preferences. He allowed himself to be bullied into the

chair that Alfred suggested.

Throwing himself into the opposite chair, Alfred selected various

exhibits from his collection of messages. "I just brought these up from

the office," he said. "These are some of the telegrams that she sent me

each day last week while I was away. This is Monday's." And he proceeded

to read with a sneering imitation of Zoie's cloy sweetness.

"'Darling, so lonesome without you. Cried all day. When are you coming

home to your wee sad wifie? Love and kisses. Zoie.'" Tearing the

defenceless telegram into bits, Alfred threw it from him and waited for

his friend's verdict.

"She sent that over the wire?" gasped Jimmy.

"Oh, that's nothing," answered Alfred. "That's a mild one." And he

selected another from the same pocket. "Here, listen to this. This is

what she REALLY did. This is from my secretary the same night."

"You spied upon her!" asked Jimmy, feeling more and more convinced that

his own deceptions would certainly be run to earth.




Most Popular