“It was a wise provision,” admitted Murray. “We got trace of the wife at that flat.”
“It was after leaving there,” Harkness continued, “that my cousin went to St. Louis. When he returned we met and a little later fixed up the job. As soon as I got the policy I rented the Sixty-fourth Street flat, and my cousin and his wife moved in. That’s all, I think, except that you ought to be a little easy on me, I think, for giving you such an entertaining story.”
Murray turned to the doctor with a pardonable air of triumph.
“Was I right, Doctor,” he asked, “in saying that it takes the novice to devise the really confusing scheme?”
“You were right,” said the doctor.
AN INCIDENTAL GRIEVANCE
Jane Moffat, widow, was sore distressed.
“Without Tom,” she said, “I don’t know what I’ll do. Tom was a good man, but unlucky. There was better providers than Tom, but he was better than none.”
This apparent reflection on her late husband did not mean that Mrs. Moffat confined herself to the financial point of view, for she had been a true and devoted wife, but her present need was great and her present resources were nothing. Furthermore, Tom Moffat certainly had been either unlucky or incapable. Mrs. Moffat, out of her affection for him, chose to attribute their misfortunes to ill luck; another, less considerate, might have said that Tom lacked ability and stability; no one, however, could have said that he was neglectful or indifferent—he did the best he could, and his family always had all he could provide. Nevertheless, Tom Moffat had drifted from one thing to another, and his wife and two children had drifted with him. He had worked at many things, and in many places, and there had been times when he lacked work entirely. So he left Mrs. Moffat practically nothing when he died.
“The neighbors was good,” continued Mrs. Moffat, “an’ I’ve got some sewing to do. I was pretty good at that in my younger days, but the children don’t give me time to earn much, even if the pay was what it should be. I had to sell some furniture already, an’ I don’t know what I’ll do. We’ve been going from bad to worse.”