“It’s plain that ye ain’t read the papers,” he concludes. “Ye’d know all about it, if ye had.”
CHAPTER XXVII.
FRANZY FRANCOISE’S GALLANTRY.
While this reunited family, warmed to cordiality by the contents of the aforementioned bottle, exchanged confidences, the evening wore on.
Franz had related the story of his escape and his subsequent adventures, and finished by telling them how, by the merest accident, he had espied Mamma and Nance upon their return from the Warburton mansion; and how, at the risk of being detained by a too-zealous “cop,” he had followed them, and so discovered their present abode.
In exchange for this interesting story, Papa had briefly sketched the outline of the career run by himself and Mamma during the ten years of their son’s absence, up to the time of their retreat from the scene of the Siebel tragedy.
“We were doing a good business,” sighed Papa, dolefully, “a very good business, in that house. But one night there were two or three there with—goods, and while the old woman and I were attending to business, the others got into a fuss—ah. We had no hand in it, the old woman and me, but there was a man killed, and it wasn’t safe to stay there, Franzy.”
“Umph!” muttered the hopeful son; “who did the killin’?”
Papa glanced uneasily at the old woman, and then replied: