twenty-two pounds in empty mustard-tins. Every ha'penny's gone!"

Mr. Teak's eye fell on the stove. He stepped for ward and examined it.
The back was out, and Mrs. Teak, calling his attention to a tunnel at the
side, implored him to put his arm in and satisfy himself that it was
empty.

"But where could you get all that money from?" he demanded, after a
prolonged groping.

"Sa--sa--saved it," sobbed his wife, "for our old age."

"Our old age?" repeated Mr. Teak, in lofty tones. "And suppose I had
died first? Or suppose you had died sudden? This is what comes of
deceitfulness and keeping things from your husband. Now somebody has
stole it."

Mrs. Teak bent her head and sobbed again. "I--I had just been out for
--for an hour," she gasped. "When I came back I fou--fou--found the
washhouse window smashed, and--"

Sobs choked her utterance. Mr. Teak, lost in admiration of Mr. Chase's
cleverness, stood regarding her in silence.

"What--what about the police?" said his wife at last.

"Police!" repeated Mr. Teak, with extraordinary vehemence. "Police!
Certainly not. D'ye think I'm going to let it be known all round that
I'm the husband of a miser? I'd sooner lose ten times the money."