"O-oh!" said Smithers, with a prolonged whistle; "that's how the cat jumps, hey? Now I can see where the money went. Soh! the late lamented Thompson has come back, and you're not my wife by law."
Mrs. Smithers bestowed a wrathful look on Tommy.
She would not for the world that Smithers should have got even the least glimmering of what had taken place that day.
But it was too late for regrets. He knew all now.
She lay perfectly passive on the lounge, while Mr. Smithers closely questioned Tommy, drawing from him all the facts connected with Thompson's unexpected return from the West, and the circumstances of his visit.
CHAPTER VII.
TOMMY MAKES A STRANGE VOYAGE.
After pacing the room in a state of agitation for some minutes, Mr. Smithers enjoined Tommy not to say a word of what had happened to anybody, and ordered him to go out and play, which the boy was very willing to do.
At length he took his wife's hand in his.
"My dear," he said, "on consideration, I do not blame you in this affair. When you married me you believed your first husband dead?"