The Argosy — page 305: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

284 A Little Maid, an Old Maid and the Mayor. at the office ; and on leaving for town had drawn the larger part of her savings. It seemed strange to Mrs. Welbrow that she should want more money immediately on her return, especially as she was generally very prudent. ‘How much, Miss Carleton ?” ‘Ten pounds—2in notes, please,” and unconsciously Maud blushed. ‘The post-mistress noticed it, for little escaped her eager eyes. The money brought, Maud put it into an envelope, directed it, and handed it across the counter to be registered. ‘That was a great moment for Mrs. Welbrow, who took full stock of the whole address. The other little formalities were gone through, and Maud left the Post-Office with her savings diminished to three pounds. “Who can Major Murdoch be? And why on earth did she need to send him ten pounds?” ‘These were the questions that perplexed Mrs. Welbrow throughout the evening. It was surprising how much she knew of Maud Carleton’s affairs and of everybody’s. A consistent study of the postmarks and addresses of letters joined to a detective- like instinct had enabled her to amass an amount of information that was curiously exact. She knew that Maud had few intimate corre- spondents and that those few were mostly women. Once a fortnight or so she received a letter from a brother in India; and sometimes she had letters from firms or institutions, presumably containing orders. | But Major Murdoch! That was quite a new name. Perhaps he was an admirer whom she had met in London: but then why send him ten pounds? It might be. for a commission, of course, but Mrs. Welbrow made a point of never contenting herself with one hypothesis, she liked to go through the whole gamut. And so she did in the present instance, till her head would have ached if it had not been so clear. Meanwhile, she promised herself to keep a sharp eye on Miss Carleton’s future correspondence. Maud, all unconscious of the mental commotion she had caused, meanwhile proceeded on her way, and in five minutes more had turned into the pretty lane where her home was placed. As the fly drew up in front of Elm Tree Cottage, eager young faces appeared at the windows; thence quickly vanished and reappeared instantly in the porch. Boisterous greetings, accompanied by the frantic barkings of two or three dogs ensued, and Maud, in a general confusion of affectionate relatives, smiling servants, and canine friends, was escorted to the parlour, there to be more quietly but not less gladly greeted by her aunt. A chorus of voices alternately questioned Maud and related the events of the past fortnight. Then, when Maud had taken the first edge off the general curiosity and produced her presents, the younger members of the party dispersed and the dogs followed them. COMMICLOOOKS.E@) m