“They are Mr. Talbot’s bills.”
Mr. Talbot was the grocer whose store she had left.
“Now we will compare the bills with the prices I heard being charged to the customers who were being waited on in the store.”
This she did with Paul’s help.
The result was that she found herself charged two cents a pound extra on sugar, five cents on butter, three cents on cheese, five cents each on tea and coffee, and so on. Besides she found that excessive quantities of each had been bought, more than three persons could possibly have consumed. What became of the surplus, unless it was thrown away, she could not possibly divine. Of course the housekeeper’s commission increased with increased sales. The real explanation, however, was that Mrs. Mercer had a widowed sister living in the next town. She often called on Mrs. Mercer, and never went away without a liberal supply of groceries, taken from the private stores of Mrs. Granville.
This the old lady did not learn till afterwards.
If Mrs. Mercer had known in what way her mistress and Paul were engaged, she would have quaked with apprehension, but of this she had no suspicions.
The next afternoon Mrs. Granville drove over once more to Mr. Talbot’s store, and asked for a private interview with him.
“Certainly, ma’am,” said the unsuspecting grocer, obsequiously.