“If it ith for the thake of my poor forlorn mithguided husband,” said Mrs. Dibble, sighing, “I mutht, of course. I will, I will, thir.”
“Then I shall call in a cab for you to-morrow morning at ten o’clock,” said Bales, taking up his hat and leaving the poor little house without further ceremony. He was by no means in a good humour the next morning when he found Mrs. Dibble prepared with luggage enough to have made a voyage round the globe. Boxes, bundles, parcels, carpet bags, umbrellas, shawls and mufflers, the old lady filled the cab inside and out, and she created quite a sensation at Paddington whilst Bales was taking tickets. She had lost an umbrella, and left a parcel in the cab; she had fallen over a luggage-truck, and quarrelled with a porter: so that when Bales came upon the platform, he found his companion the centre of interest and attraction, and the target for a series of lively jokes and witticisms from the “paper boys,” who pressed the Times, Standard, and Telegraph upon her attention, much to her annoyance. She was telling an old gentleman who had come to her assistance, that she had had a boarding-school education, and that her father, who was a builder, had erected several stations and a railway bridge; and she did think that if there was civility to be got she ought to have it, let alone the fact of her losing money in the panic.
Mr. Bales, however, speedily induced Mrs. Dibble to take a seat in a first-class carriage, and the old gentleman smiled benevolently upon her. He could easily see that it was not a dangerous case, he said to Mr. Bales. To what asylum was he conveying her?
“You had better ask her,” said Bales. “You will be amused at her reply.”
“Indeed!” said the gentleman.
“Yes,” said Bales, “she rather likes to be asked the question.”
“Then I will certainly put it,” said the traveller, and he walked with Bales to the carriage.
The detective took his seat, and began to read the Times with great attention.
“Athylum, thir!” exclaimed Mrs. Dibble after a few moments, in reply to a bland question. “What do you mean, thir? How dare you, thir!”
“Really, madam, I did not intend to offend, but——”