she 'eard it.

"'He don't live 'ere,' she ses.

"''As he moved?' I ses. 'Or wot?'

"She shook her 'cad, and, arter telling me to wait, went in and fetched
her 'usband.

"'Never 'eard of him,' he ses, 'and we've been 'ere seventeen years. Are
you sure it was twenty-seven?'

"'Sartain,' I ses.

"'Well, he don't live 'ere,' he ses. 'Why not try thirty-seven and
forty-seven?'

"I tried'em: thirty-seven was empty, and a pasty-faced chap at forty-
seven nearly made 'imself ill over the name of 'Kiddem.' It 'adn't
struck me before, but it's a hard matter to deceive me, and all in a
flash it come over me that I 'ad been done agin, and that the gal was as
bad as 'er brother.

"I was so done up I could 'ardly crawl back, and my 'ead was all in a
maze. Three or four times I stopped and tried to think, but couldn't,
but at last I got back and dragged myself into the office.

"As I 'arf expected, it was empty. There was no sign of either the gal
or the boy; and I dropped into a chair and tried to think wot it all
meant. Then, 'appening to look out of the winder, I see somebody running